


Keep Your Hands Up, So I Can See

by GMTYUniverse



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Hogwarts, Hufflepuff!Harry, M/M, Misunderstandings, Prejudice, Quidditch, Slytherin!Louis, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-20 23:06:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10672665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GMTYUniverse/pseuds/GMTYUniverse
Summary: Harry’s eyes seemed drawn to whatever movement Louis made, so he dipped his quill into the ink harshly, before boldly punctuating his final sentence.“I know it’s hard for you to not think about me and my broomstick, but you better focus on your schoolwork Styles. Last time I heard, you were flunking Potions.”Louis hadn’t heard anything, but he was quite certain that Harry hadn’t made it into the Advanced class, even though everyone and their parents knew he wanted to become an Auror – for which he’d need excellent potions skills. He figured it’d do the trick.Or: an AU where Louis is the golden Slytherin Seeker, with Jesy and Perrie as both teammates as well as his BFFS, and Harry is the Hufflepuff Seeker - and also Louis' arch nemesis, or is he?





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cherrie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherrie/gifts).



> Thanks Cherrie for the prompt, I really enjoyed writing it!

Louis gritted his teeth as he dove down in a desperate attempt to catch up with the Snitch – he’d been so close just moments before, but then some Beater had sent a Bludger his way and he’d be damned to end up in the hospital _again_ after just having been released by Madame Pomfrey just days prior.

‘Slow down Lou! It’s just training,’ he could hear Jesy call out from somewhere behind him, but he didn’t dare glance in her direction.

He had his eyes on the Snitch and was not going to pass up the opportunity to beat his personal record in catching the golden thing, whether it was training or an actual match.

He could feel the wind whizzing past his ears, hair being held up in his headband, as he flew closer and closer – gaining speed by leaning forward on his broomstick.

Maybe, if he could just gain a _bit_ more leverage, fly just a _tad_ faster, he could stretch out his hand to ca—

 

‘LOUIS! WATCH OUT!’

 

In hindsight, Louis guessed that perhaps Jesy had been right in telling him to slow down. Or maybe he should’ve listened when she told him not be so reckless during training. But he would _not_ let those stupid Hufflepuffs best them this year. Not again.

Although he had to wonder how he was even going to participate in the Cup now that his broomstick had partially buried itself into the foundation of one of the stands.

“Merlin’s Beard, Louis! What were you thinking?!” Perrie started scolding him the second she landed right next to him, her broomstick falling to the ground as she rushed over.

He guessed it had looked worse than it was, because despite the fact that his mum would definitely not be happy with the news of him breaking his broomstick just weeks into the term, he was actually feeling quite alright.

‘Catching this little one, ‘s what I was thinking, I s’pose,’ he said dazedly, before opening up his tightly held fist to show her the Snitch resting in his palm. A small smile tugged on her lips, as she shook her head in despair.

Louis smirked back at Perrie, curling his fingers around the golden ball once more, before pushing himself up off the ground.

‘Tomlinson! You have got to be kidding me! I know you’re feeling quite competitive what with the match coming up, but I will not allow irresponsibility taking over your senses. Especially when it’s going to cost us both House points for that damage of the pitch, as well as funds to replace your broomstick!’ Jesy was fuming as she ran over from where she’d been observing training on the ground.

As the best Keeper Slytherin had seen in years, it wasn’t that strange she’d been Captain of the Quidditch team for a while now. Her reputation was one of ruthless drills and incredibly strict rules that included mealplans during the season. While it made the Quidditch players moan on and on about how much time and effort it all took – they had never been more successful.

Well. Except for the last match they’d played against the Ravenclaw team. 

Which was surely the reason why Jesy was being so strict about Louis’ flying stunts. She was usually quite lenient with him – they were close friends, and she knew exactly how stubborn Louis was, but also how much of an asset the Seeker had been ever since he’d joined the team.

However, as a friend, she was fiercely protective. Jesy did not take shit from anyone, especially when it concerned her friends getting hurt. And in this moment, she was probably more worried than angry, fueled by what had happened at that match.

He unconsciously gripped onto his side, fingers gliding over the material of his robes, pushing slightly to feel his ribs intact. It had only been 3 days since Louis’d fully recovered from his last stint as punching bag of the Ravenclaw Beaters. The rivalry between the two normally wasn’t that intense, but Louis guessed that it was probably his own taunting that had gotten them to swing Bludgers at him in complete disregard of rules and regulations.

Then again, it hadn’t been an _actual_ official match – something which also hadn’t gone over well with Headmistress McGonagall. He was lucky she'd found his broken ribs to be enough of a punishment in itself. 

 

“Jeeze Jes, be quiet would you? I’m perfectly alright, and I caught you a Snitch in record-time. Styles won’t know what’ll hit him at the end of the season,” Louis said proudly, although he couldn’t help the grimace taking over his face as he uttered the name of his archenemy.

His expression must’ve reassured her that he was feeling fine, because while she still regarded him with a stern, irritated look – the immediate worry was gone.

‘That’s great, but right now all I care about is that you’ll be able to conjure a new broomstick before our match against the Blues first. Because we don’t have a spare one that’s been properly flown in,’ she said with a bite to her voice.

It made Louis’ smile fall a bit.

That – would be a problem. Obviously he hadn’t been expecting to crash his broomstick this badly, but he had to admit that somewhere in the back of his mind he’d blindly assumed there to be a spare Thunderbolt lying around.

 

“Looking terrible, Tomlinson – how am I expected to best you when you don’t even have a broom to fly on?”

The voice alone made Louis’ blood boil, as he immediately whipped his head around to watch Styles approach. It was almost admirable, the ways in which he always seemed to show up whenever Louis was complaining about him, or thinking about a multitude of hexes he’d like to try on that arrogant head of curls that seemed to get more untameable every time he saw him.

“This is a closed practice, get out Styles!” Perrie shouted, motioning for him to get off the stands.

Louis wondered how long he’d been there, watching and cataloging Louis’ moves, or if he’d just been practicing his apparating around school grounds and had accidentally ended up at the pitch. The latter thought almost made him laugh, but he composed himself, prior to responding to the taunts.

 

‘Fuck off Curls, we both know who’s the better Seeker and that’s me – broken broomstick or not!’

An angry scowl took over the Hufflepuff’s feature for a second or two, before his facial expression smoothed out into a serene smile once more. The perfection of it made Louis want to strangle the kid.

 

“Hmm – I do remember that slightly differently. Next match, Tomlinson. Moment of truth,” he said gravelly, his deep voice making it sound both ominous and ludicrous at once, before disappearing out of view.

 

‘I can’t believe the nerve of that kid!’ Jesy uttered out, as the rest of the Slytherin team had now assembled around the three of them, having noticed the earlier commotion.

 

“Jesy, can’t you do something about it? Can’t we go to Miss Willis about it?” A second year asked, referring to the new Quidditch referee and coach at Hogwarts. She’d been quite strict in imposing a training schedule and had not been amused at the unofficial matches that had been taking place between teams.

 

Jesy nodded at the second year – Louis supposed he _really_ should be learning their names by now – and then turned back to give Louis a concerned one-over.

 

‘You sure y’alright?’ She questioned once more, to which he nodded firmly, rolling his eyes at her cluckiness.

 

“I’m fine babe, ‘s just me broom that broke this time. Let’s just pack up, yeah? I got the Snitch so game’s over, really,” Louis added with a smirk, before turning back to pick up his two-pieced Thunderbolt V. Jesy nodded and motioned for the others to get a move on, as she picked up the Quaffle and made her way to the Equipment Room.

Perrie put a hand on his shoulder as the others trudged towards the changing rooms, and nodded at the broomstick. ‘It’s alright Lou, you know Jes and I will pitch in okay? Just ask? Don’t be so proud all the time,’ she urged softly.

He could feel his cheeks burn with embarrassment.

“Perrie, please. ‘m not a charity case, it’ll be okay. I just won’t go to Hogsmeade for a bit, and like, I’ve saved up over summer hols – it’s okay. It’s me own stupidity that broke it, I’ll fix it meself,” he replied, hoping to sound convincing enough to get her off his case.

In truth, he had no idea how to get the money he needed for a quality replacement, but he’d be damned if he’d let the others contribute to fixing a problem that hadn’t even been there if not for Louis’ reckless flying.

If only he’d listened to Jesy when she’d told him to slow down, he would’ve caught the Snitch later on in the session, and he’d have a whole broomstick and still have all the money he’d been so carefully saving since the summer.

Perrie shot him a sympathetic look, but decided to let it go as she nodded once, letting him brush her hand off his shoulder before walking over to the Equipment Room and dropping the Snitch into the cabinet.

 

‘Louis – can I talk to you?’

He swiveled his head around, only to be met with Jesy who’d apparently been waiting for him to make his way to the Equipment Room after her.

 

“Well I’m already listening, aren’t I?’ He quipped back, but she didn’t seem all that amused. 

‘Be serious, will you?’ She implored, and for once, he wasn’t quite sure how to read her expression.

Satisfied with his silent attention, Jesy nodded before sighing deeply.

 

‘I need to be honest with you. First and foremost, you’re one of my closest friends Lou. And as such, I realize I tend to sometimes overlook your behavior,’ she started – which immediately made Louis raise his heckles, as he was ready to protest her words, when she just shot him a look before continuing

 

‘We’re 6th years. We’re supposed to be setting examples for the younger students, and frankly, your reckless behavior might be what propels us to victory, but it’s also dangerous. You’ve damaged property, but most importantly, you’ve damaged yourself in the process. I know you’re a brilliant Seeker, and I’m quite certain that you’ll pursue a professional career in Quidditch after school, but I can’t just be lenient with you just because you’re my best friend and I believe in your skills. Not only that, but I’ve been getting increasingly urgent messages from both McGonagall as well as our Head of House Mazoni. I can overlook the crazy stunts, because you are what makes this team stick together and you lead us to victory. But I can’t do that when there’s professors pressuring me about not just your behavior but also your school performance.’

 

A feeling of dread was slowly filling Louis’ body, as he numbly listened to the words pouring out of Jesy’s mouth.

He wasn’t quite ready to hear her say the words that he knew was coming, even though he could guess the direction in which this was going, and it wasn’t a pleasant one.

‘If you can’t get your grades up this term, I have to take you off the team Louis.’

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

It wasn’t that Louis was angry at Jesy. He was quite aware of the fact that she’d probably protected him from being booted off the team earlier on in the term, if it had been up to anyone else.

Quidditch was his life though. Even from a young age, he’d been obsessed with the sport, and any second he could, he devoted to watching matches and training his hardest. It was probably why he had such a difficult time liking Hufflepuff’s golden child Harry Styles, who had basically just fallen into the Seeker position and seemed to have no trouble at all excelling in everything.

Louis was a half-blood.

His father had left right after he’d been born, because Louis had apparently literally brought light into the world – which had freaked his muggle-born biological father out so much, he’d gone running for the hills. Even though his mom had found temporary happiness with another man, which had led to his beautiful, wonderful four sisters, it hadn’t lasted either.

The common denominator had always been Louis.

He’d been there for his mother, every step of the way, every hardship – they’d gone through it together. And he did feel responsible, for his sisters that were about to set foot into the Hogwarts community, but also towards his mum who’d had to give up so much at a young age.

For him. For his sisters. For their happiness, setting her own feelings aside.

It’s why he hated having to come to terms with the fact that he’d probably really disappointed his mum. He was failing her, and the promise he’d made himself. He’d do good by his family, always. He’d get good grades, so he could pursue a well-paid job somewhere that would let him take care of his Mum and his siblings, like she’d always tried to do for them.

Quidditch – it was not just a passion to him. It was his golden ticket. It would mean financial security, it would mean freedom, it would mean a chance for him to travel the world like he'd always wanted to. 

Sometimes, he just didn’t feel at home in Slytherin with most of its students being purebloods with stable families that didn’t have to worry about money, and had gotten to see the world – had gone to see the Quidditch Cup for real.

And then there was Louis – a half-blood, who hadn’t had the most stable youth, and who had always been raised to be extremely careful with money, who had never had the luxury to go travelling beyond the village pond and Hogsmeade, who had never been to the Cup - even though it was his dream.

Knowing that he was failing his study requirements, perhaps fail his NEWTS, even though he’d worked so hard to get good OWLs last year – and that it might cost him his Quidditch career, was… a devastatingly horrible prospect.

Especially because he had no guarantee whatsoever that he was even _good_ enough. He liked to believe that he was, but most scouts would only attend the matches in the second term - the game against Ravenclaw was important for consistency, but it was the one against Hufflepuff that'd matter the most.

If he wanted to impress, he needed to be on the field by then.

And he needed to be the best.

It’s why he had been pushing himself so hard, why he’d been adamant to hold unofficial matches to improve his skills, and why perhaps he’d been taking just too much risks in order to _win_.

 

Louis knew that he needed a plan B, and he did have one – especially if he couldn’t get his hands on a new broomstick, which was unfortunately a very likely scenario. A carefully conducted career test monitored by McGonagall had led her to say that, surprisingly, Louis would perhaps be great in Children’s Healing. He’d chosen his NEWTS accordingly, but apparently he wasn’t doing all too well if almost all of his professors had complained.

 

With a sigh, he grabbed his books off of the trunk next to his bed, and started making his way to the library. He supposed he could start with revising his Advanced Potion-making, something that he was good at, something that was easy. He also knew that practice was his strong suit, but that his theory was lacking. And their new professor happened to be quite fond of theory.

“You off to study?” Stan asked as Louis passed him by in the Common Room. He just nodded shortly, not wanting to be distracted, and continued his way out of the dungeons.

“Alright, see you later man! Also, I think Pezza was looking for you!” Stan shouted in an attempt to make himself heard to Louis, who was marching towards the library in high tempo.

It’s not like he didn’t want to hang out with Stan in the Common Room, or talk to him, it’s just that Louis didn’t do well with distractions. And other people functioned as enormous distractions. It’s why he needed to go to the library – where people were at least required to mind their own business and be silent.

The moment he settled down at a table though, laying out his books and parchment, he realized he probably should’ve first looked at who else was sitting there. Louis couldn’t help the soft groan of annoyance escape him as he’d been unlucky enough to pick a seat at the same table as Harry Styles.

Which – he was surprised to see him there in the first place, as he’d always gotten the impression that Harry was quite smart and didn’t need extra study hours. And what frustrated him even more, was the stupid smirk that he always seemed to have whenever Louis was around – just baiting him to make a snarky remark.

Of course, it was also Louis’ luck that his soft groan hadn’t actually been soft enough to forego Harry’s ears.

The boy looked up to see who’d disturbed the silence, and seemed equally amused as annoyed at the fact that his archenemy has unknowingly chosen the same study table. He raised an eyebrow at Louis, before suddenly bowing over a small piece of parchment and writing something on there.

 

Louis decided that he didn’t really need to pay attention to whatever strange study method Harry had developed over the years, and instead opened his Advanced Potionmaking book to read up on Golpalott’s Third Law.

He’d begun making notes on how the law would be applicable to a number of poison and antidote combinations, when he saw a paper airplane coming towards him. Or rather, hitting him square in the forehead, making him squirm in pain at impact.

Disturbed at the sound, Madam Pince whizzed by their table, shooting both Louis and Harry a judgmental look. It seemed as if she was getting ready to jinx them, even though it was impossible to know with her knack for nonverbal magic. However, Harry just shot her his trademarked dimpled smile which made Louis roll his eyes, but apparently was effective as she moved along.

It irked Louis that even strict Madam Pince was susceptible to Harry, and he wondered how it could be that he and his friends in Slytherin were the only ones resisting it. With a frown, he eyed the paper plane, that had now relaxed and transformed itself back into a normal parchment that had ‘read me’ scratched on it.

 

The curiosity was stronger than his stubbornness, even though he was equally afraid Harry had jinxed it to get him into trouble.

_"Got a new broomstick yet? Quite sure a potion won’t heal the old one, as hard as you may try.”_

Louis’s hands scrunched up the paper as he felt white-hot anger creep through his veins.

Who did this boy even think he was?

He didn’t get to make Louis feel embarrassed and humiliated, or stupid and inferior. Yet, even after knowing each other for five years – all he’d ever felt was completely unhinged whenever they interacted.

Furiously, he started scribbling another message, after making a show of burning the other one whilst using a silencing spell. It’s too bad Madam Pince couldn’t witness his moment of brilliance, because he was sure she would’ve been proud at the silencing technique. Harry’s eyes seemed drawn to whatever movement Louis made, so he dipped his quill into the ink harshly, before boldly punctuating his final sentence.

 

_“_ _I know it’s hard for you to not think about me and my broomstick, but you better focus on your schoolwork Styles. Last time I heard, you were flunking Potions.”_

 

Louis hadn’t heard anything, but he was quite certain that Harry hadn’t made it into the Advanced class, even though everyone and their parents knew he wanted to become an Auror – for which he’d need excellent potions skills. He figured it’d do the trick.

With a flourish of his hand, he sent the paper plane back to its rightful owner, before demonstratively casting a silencing spell over himself as an impenetrable bubble. Louis didn’t feel as satisfied as he thought he would when he glanced upwards, only to find an evident frown on Harry’s face and the piece of parchment crumbled up on the pile of books he’d assembled.

They didn’t interact anymore that afternoon.

 

* * *

 

“Hey Lou-Lou,” Perrie said loudly as she dropped into a chair next to Louis at the table.

He glared at her, and told her once more how he did _not_ want to be referred to as ‘Lou-Lou’.

‘For the millionth time, ’m not a pet owl!’ He exclaimed, before focusing back on his breakfast. If he was being honest, he was dreading this day already.

He had counted all his money, and had come to the conclusion that he didn’t have enough to get a new broomstick. His pride was too big to ask the others to pitch in to something that was the consequence of his own stupidity, so he’d rummaged through his bag of muggle stuff.

It’d become quite popular and he knew that if he could just select the right thing, he could easily sell them off to gather enough money for a new broomstick himself.

‘Oh hush Lou-lou, we all know you secretly like it. Anyways, how’s the broomstick thing going?’ Perrie asked him, gently nudging his shoulder as she made herself more comfortable to pick pieces from his breakfast.

Sending her a dirty look, he shielded his plate from her, before shrugging his shoulders. “Alright, I’d say. Like, I can probably get a new one mailed to me in a week or two. Then I still have a week to practice with it.”

His hopes of her falling for his little white lie were crushed when she just snorted, and then turned her upperbody so that she was fully facing him.

‘Is that why I saw an advert for a bunch of muggle stuff on the bulletin board scribbled in your chicken scratch? I know you won’t accept my money, so I’ve got another offer. My auntie works at Hogsmeade yeah? You can take a shift working there over the weekend. That should cover enough.’

Her voice was authoritative and really left no room for Louis to argue, he realized as he met Perrie’s determined blue eyes with his own.

He sighed, irritated in her inability to keep to her own business, before nodding his head slowly. “Fine, but only because you’re my best friend who I can’t say no to, and I do really need to be on top of my game to beat that stupid curly-headed monster next term.”

She just shot him a sweet, satisfied smile, waving away his comments about Harry. The rivalry had established itself a long time ago, back when Harry had skinned Louis in their first match against each other. He’d pummelled straight into Louis, who’d in turn had gotten his hand injured as it’d gotten stuck between their broomsticks in the collision. It had given rise to a longstanding list of insults hurled between the two teams in general – much more so than Gryffindor nowadays, and had resulted in dangerous moves on the pitch to throw the other one off their game.

‘Yeah well, don’t even spend a minute of your time thinking about him, it isn’t worth it. Even though I have to admit he has definitely grown into the curls,’ Perrie added thoughtfully, even though her lips twitched into a grimace – as if it was painful to admit it.

Louis laughed, but couldn’t refrain from nodding along; she was right. Sometimes he wondered how things would’ve gone if Harry and himself had met under different circumstances. If he didn’t know Harry, he’d probably totally be his type.

They continued chatting for a bit, mostly about Perrie’s hair colour of the day. She was still fine-tuning the extent to which she could control her metamorphmagi abilities – sometimes her hair changed spontaneously without her even realizing what had caused it. It seemed to be more stable lately, and had been a soft pink for a while now, but it had turned dirty blonde again this morning.   


 

As interesting as it was, it did cause Louis to suddenly realize he was going to be late at his next class – Herbology. He quickly said goodbye to Perrie, and ran all the way to the greenhouses, in a futile attempt to make up for the time he’d lost.

The moment he rushed into Greenhouse 4, he knew his running really hadn’t made any difference. Almost everyone was paired up and was handling what appeared to be a Snargaluff.

His eyes searched the Greenhouse to find Professor Longbottom, whom he found bent over another Snargaluff, only to pop back up with a bowl full of pods.

“This is what you’ll be looking for – be extremely careful, do **not** try to handle them by yourself! I don’t want to have another incid--,” he broke himself off as he suddenly spotted Louis across the room.

“Ah, I see Mr Tomlinson has decided to grace us with his presence after all. Tardiness is not a good characteristic, 5 points from Slytherin.”

 

Louis looked to the ground in embarrassment, and slowly shuffled over to the professor, robes swishing behind him. ‘I’m terribly sorry Professor, I don’t have an excuse, I was just distracted and forgot about time.’

Professor Longbottom was normally not that strict, and Louis actually really enjoyed the class – even if it did require him to work much harder than Potions did. He also loved the fact that sometimes Professor Longbottom would slip in stories of the War, casually talking about what Dumbledore’s Army had used certain plants for to fight the Deatheaters.

It was fascinating.

 

“That is, indeed, a horrible excuse. I’d expect a Slytherin to be able to lie better. Since you’re late, everyone’s already paired up. You’re lucky we’ve got an even number of students today – I was going to help Mr Styles here get to the pods, but I’ll let you two work together instead. I assume that won’t be a problem,” he trailed off, raising his eyebrows at Louis in a way that conveyed there was to be no arguing.

 

With a slight glance to the side, Louis registered the fact that Harry had been standing behind Professor Longbottom the entire time, holding onto a set of gloves with little moving flowers on them. For a spare second, Louis wondered if the boy had transfigured them himself, which would’ve been quite impressive.

However, Professor Longbottom didn’t leave him any time to dwell on the thought, as he told the boys to get started.

“I want each of you to get at least 5 pods this class. We’ll review what they can be used for next Tuesday,” he addressed the class whilst steering Harry and Louis to a single Snargaluff that hadn’t yet been prodded by students.

 

‘Easy peasy,’ Harry smiled, before passing Louis a stack of notes that included instructions on how to go about it.

 

“Right, you’d think so,” Louis huffed as he looked around to gauge how well the other students were doing, which was… not well.

 

‘They look quite peaceful, don’t they? Have you done this before?’ Harry pondered out loud, green eyes burning into Louis’ skin. He just shook his head, before finding Harry’s gaze and letting out a hollow laugh.

 

“Of course not Styles. Let’s just do the assignment so we can get it over with quickly, and forget we ever had to work together,” he replied.

He didn’t even know why he’d snapped or had felt the need to address the lack of friendship between them.

He also didn’t understand why Harry’s smile faded away the moment Louis’d spoken, nor did he get why that made him feel a bit sad.

'Right, yeah. Erm. Well, we’ve got some at home and it should be quite alright if one of us could just coax them open a bit. It’s not just the prickly vines we should look out for. Your hand could get stuck in it as well.’

 

Louis rolled his eyes at Harry repeating what he’d already read just this morning before getting breakfast in an attempt to prepare for class. “I know, genius. I’ve read the literature for today.”

 

A defiant pout made its way onto the other boy’s face, who crossed his arms in a stubborn move. ‘You don’t have to act so mean all the time, you know? I’ve met a lot of Slytherins who’re actually nothing like the stereotype, but you fit the bill perfectly.’

It was exactly the wrong thing to say to Louis, and he immediately felt his cheeks redden out of sheer frustration. “You don’t know the first thing about me Styles, so I think you’d do well to shut your big mouth about who you think I am, and just deal with this plant as fast as we can.”

 

The other boy seemed shocked at Louis’ little outburst, and pursed his lips in response – as if he had to hold himself back from responding. In the end, he just nodded shortly apparently deciding against it. A contemplative look took over his features, as he tilted his head to the side questioningly.

 

‘Are you any good at braiding?’

 

The question threw Louis off completely. “Excuse me?”

 

A small smile stretched out over Harry’s face, as he huffed in amusement at Louis’ incredulous expression.

Hadn’t they just been arguing?

Louis quickly threw a look over his shoulder to see if perhaps the near presence of Longbottom had influenced him, but apparently not.

 

‘I asked if you’re any good at braiding. The gloves will keep the thorns from pricking into your skin, but the vines will need to be kept together. I’ve found that they’re quite easy to handle if you just braid ‘em.’

 

Dumbfounded, Louis just stared at him, before nodding slowly. 

 

“Right. Makes complete sense. Erm. Yeah, I can braid. Got 4 little sisters, so it’s kind of required.”

‘Wonderful! I mean, that’s – yeah, that’s great. Erm. Yeah. So. You could just, you know, start braiding. And then I’ll just stick my hand right in to grab the pods,’ Harry stammered, rushing the words out in a way that was completely unlike his normal speaking tendencies.

 

Still wondering how exactly he’d landed himself in this situation, he quickly reached into his bag to grab his own pair of gloves and started wrestling with a vine.

‘You have to be gentle, like, they’ll still be dangerous, but it’ll be easier to get them to cooperate,’ Harry urged him on – eyes trained on Louis’ hands. He immediately felt self-conscious about his plant-calming abilities, while he racked his brain over how he could possibly be more gentle with a freaking vine.

Until, suddenly, he could feel the tension leaving the vine as he started to gently weave them together, moving away from the center where it kept its pods hidden.

“It’s working!” Louis said excitedly, tugging slightly on the vines to make sure the braid was tight enough.

He looked up to smile at Harry, who was already smiling back at him. For a second, he forgot about the fact they were supposed to be archenemies, as he realized how pretty Harry’s green emerald eyes were.

 

‘Doing well boys – creative. I like that. 10 points to Hufflepuff and Slytherin,’ Professor Longbottom’s voice interrupted his treacherous thoughts.

‘I’m going to go in now, yeah?’ Harry spoke up, slowly moving his gloved hand towards the opening before grabbing a couple of pods.

‘I’m just going to grab some of these pods of yours, Snargaluff. I’m quite sorry, but it’s very important to us,’ he cooed at the plant, making Louis snort.

 

A frown immediately crossed Harry’s face, as he shot Louis a glare. ‘Don’t laugh, they like attention!’

 

He almost let go of the braid just to annoy him, but decided against it – he’d just won his House 10 points for being cooperative, and he desperately needed to make up for the fact his property destruction had cost Slytherin a lot. So he sighed, and held on, curiously listening to all the nonsense Harry was sharing with the plant.

 

‘Thank you so much, you’ve been so accommodative. Thanks for helping us, I’ll let you go now, don’t worry, you can close up. We’ll leave you alone. Louis’ going to be real careful with your braid, even though it looks quite lovely. Okay, almost out,’ he spoke as he withdrew his hand full of pods from the plant.

The moment he was out, Louis let go of the braid, which immediately untangled itself and fell lifeless to the ground, as if it hadn’t been sputtering the entire time. Snargaluffs were traitorous plants.

 

‘So.’

 

“So,” Louis repeated awkwardly as he watched while Harry put the pods into the bowl and carried it over to a safekeeping place.

It was funny how they’d always been able to avoid working together in class, even though they shared quite a few – especially when they were younger. And now, when they’d eventually been forced to work together, it had gone extremely smoothly. He just didn’t really know what to do or think. Harry seemed to be in a similar position, shuffling his foot awkwardly as he looked back to Louis shyly.

‘I know you’re going to disagree with me, but I think we make quite the team, Lou.’ The half-smile, accompanied with a dimple made him smile back without realizing it.

_Lou._

Harry had called him Lou.

It was a nickname he reserved for his friends, and here this guy was using it without even asking. And somehow, he didn’t even mind. Confused by his own thoughts, he desperately wanted to change the topic, moving towards safe territory.

 

“You’re quite good at Herbology aren’t you?” Louis asked, motioning back at the amount of pods he’d been able to extract. Compared to the other students, some that were still struggling with just extracting one or two, they’d gotten a full bowl – much more than the required 5.

Harry just shrugged his shoulders, ‘I guess. I like plants well enough. And we do have a lot of land, so lots of flora that requires a lot of – well, gardening. Help my stepdad a lot.’

 

The gentle reminder that they were from such different backgrounds made Louis’ stomach swirl. Of course they’d have a big garden. Harry probably’d never had to worry about whether or not he could play Quidditch because they didn’t have the money to afford the equipment. In fact, he probably had an entire Quidditch field installed in his backyard just to practice.

 

“Right. No gardener to do it for you?” He couldn’t help the bitter, snarky tone that was evident in his voice.

Confusion took over Harry’s face, as he slowly shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think so.’

 

It only made Louis’ disdain grow even more. “How can you not even know whether or not you’ve got a gardener? Do you have that many people running around on the estate that you can’t even remember?”

Harry’s confusion had obviously transformed into irritation at the hostile tone in Louis’ words, and frankly, it made Louis feel somewhat safe. That was what he was used to – not discussions about whether or not he was good at braiding hair because of his sisters.

 

‘What is your problem with me? First you're actually being nice to me, and then you're hostile again all of a sudden. I can’t help it that my family’s got money and yours doesn’t!’ He said loudly, throwing his hands up in the air out of desperation.

That’s when he realized that it was suddenly eerily quiet in the greenhouse.

And Louis felt like he’d just been slapped in the face with a stack of bills that screamed loser at him.

 

“Just because you’re swimming in money and gardeners and land, doesn’t mean I’m _any less of a person_ than you, Harry Styles,’ he hissed, before whisking his bag off of the floor and stalking out of the room.

 

“Tomlinson – Louis!” He could hear his professor coming after him, and of course Louis was aware that he shouldn’t just leave class if he felt like it, but he was not going to show his vulnerability in front of his classmates.

With renewed determination, he walked just a tad faster – until he realized that his professor had glued his feet to the terrain. He groaned, and quickly swiped the moisture off of his cheeks, before waiting glumly for his teacher to arrive.

 

“You realize I’ll have to inform your Head of House about this,” Longbottom started, and it made Louis cringe. He’d been frequenting that office far too often, and he was quite sure that Mazoni wouldn’t be happy to see him yet again.

 

‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just walked out of there,’ Louis apologized, looking up only to find a very sympathetic looking professor staring back at him.

“I understand why you did, though. What Mister Styles said in there was not acceptable and it’ll have consequences. It’s a shame, you were doing so well just moments before. You don’t have to confide in me, but if you would like, please know that you’re always welcome to talk to me, okay?”

It startled him a bit, to say the least. Professor Longbottom was the Head of House for Hufflepuff, and so Louis would’ve expected him to unofficially favor Harry. But here he was telling Louis that he could always come and talk to him too. 

“Tomlinson, you’re a good kid. And whether or not you believe it, so is Harry. He regrets what he said. Just – please try to be civil,” he continued, and then waved his wand through the air, muttering a soft _‘Finite’_ to unfreeze Louis’ legs.

He nodded once, which Louis took as his permission to continue his path to the Dungeons. It didn’t surprise him at all to find Stan already there.

 

‘You skiving?’ He asked, not even bothering to look up from the Chess game he was playing. Louis just raised his eyebrows, before plopping down on a couch across from his friend.

“Are you?” He retorted, then leaned back to rub his eyes. Today sucked. He’d waken up early for naught, what with being late and then being dismissed early.

Stan shot him a mischievous look, and shrugged. ‘Nah mate, I don’t have class until later. By the way, there’s a message for you about some ad?’

 

Louis perked up at that, wondering who’d been interested in buying some of the Muggle stuff he’d brought with him to Hogwarts. Even though it reminded him of home, he also really needed the money. Because despite what Perrie thought, one shift as a waiter was definitely not enough to cover the costs of a new broomstick.

‘You know, I never realized how much people are willing to pay for that stuff. Do you reckon anyone’d like to have those old Disney socks my Mum always gets me?’ Stan continued casually, wiggling his feet that were currently adorned by Captain America-themed socks.

It was nice having a friend that understood exactly what it was like being a half-blood, and got all the references to popular culture back home, as well as the wizarding world.

Louis grinned, before shaking his head.

“Not if your feet have been in them, that smell is repulsive mate, there’s no Scourgify-spell that could help with that,” he teased, then immediately ran to his dorm in an attempt to avoid the inevitable smelly sock that Stan threw at him.

 

His argument with Harry soon forgotten, he plopped down on his bed, looking over the parchment that had been delivered for him. He hadn’t written his name on the ad, but he’d charmed it so that whenever someone ripped off a piece of parchment with the item they wanted on it, it’d make its way to Louis who could then arrange a meeting place.

As soon as he registered the actual item and the listed price for it, his jaw dropped.

Someone had made an extremely generous offer to buy his camera. It was beyond Louis why anyone in the Wizarding community would want to have a normal camera – he’d barely used it, even back home. He was quite sure that whoever was interested in buying it must’ve been a pureblood, given the amount of money they were willing to spend on a simple Polaroid.   


Still, he couldn’t help but blink a couple of time, wondering perhaps if he was dreaming. If the deal went through, and he’d work the shift Perrie’d reserved for him, he’d definitely have enough money to buy a new Thunderbolt V in time for the match.

With a smile, he quickly scribbled a time and place on the parchment that had found its way to him, before muttering an _Invenio_ spell, allowing the parchment to return to whomever had ripped it off of the ad in the first place.

He couldn’t wait to be back on the pitch, and give that Styles kid a demonstration in catching the Snitch.


	3. Chapter 3

 

From the moment he’d gotten the confirmation of the buyer, Louis had been anxious to get the deal over and done with. He wondered what his mum would say once she found out that he’d gotten rid of his Polaroid camera. On the other hand, it was _his_ camera and he could do what he well pleased with that.

He’d probably end up telling her a little white lie if she asked about it.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Louis would lose something at Hogwarts.

He was coming up with various scenarios of stories he could tell his mum, when Perrie suddenly waved her hand in front of his face.

“You’ve been jiggling your leg for like 20 minutes now and it’s driving me crazy!”

 

Louis let out a dramatic sigh, before turning towards the clock in the Slytherin common room.

He guessed now was a good time as any to start heading towards the Owlery where he was supposed to meet the buyer.

It wouldn’t bode well for him if he’d be late and in turn wouldn’t be able to sell the camera – he wanted, no _needed_ to make this a success.

 

‘You’re lucky that I need to be on my way Pez, or I’d tell you off for that,’ he commented lazily, before darting away towards his room and grabbing the bag he’d put aside earlier that morning.

For a split second, he stared at the piece of equipment, and wondered whether or not he was going to regret giving it up. He’d captured a lot of nice memories, made wonderful snapshots of both his friends at home, his little sisters, and he’d managed to never break it.

He’d been fond of it when he was younger, but it’d become more of a well-loved decorative piece after he’d discovered the magical moving pictures that were considered normal in the wizarding world. Without giving it anymore thought, he placed the camera into a bag and made his way out of the Dungeons. 

 

Louis realized he had perhaps been a bit _too_ concerned with wanting to be on time for once, as he entered the empty Owlery with about 30 minutes to spare. He quickly made his way towards his own owl, Cinnamon, cooing at her for a bit as he tried to think of a way to pass the time. 

Instead of pacing around, he decided to practice his nonverbal charms by making little birds appear and disappear. Because as much as he wanted to ignore reality, it wasn’t just the broom that he needed – he had to ensure that his grades were going up as well. Jesy wouldn’t have warned him if it wasn’t necessary.

He was lucky that he actually wasn’t as bad at schoolwork as he’d initially thought, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have to really put in some more effort.

Just last week his mum had sent him a Howler to let him know that he needed to set a good example for Lottie. He hadn’t properly spoken to her in a bit, but he was hoping to be able to spend some time with her over the holidays.

She’d be joining him soon at Hogwarts, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t looking forward to it. He loved his sisters dearly, but Lottie was special to him. He smiled to himself, wondering which House Lottie would be in, how she would find the castle, and what classes she’d probably be good in.

His daydreams about being a proud big brother at Hogwarts were rudely interrupted though, when someone shrieked at the sight of his birds. He supposed that with his thoughts trailing off, the birds had fallen to the floor due to his lack of concentration. Quickly making them vanish, he sheepishly looked up and was about to apologize – until he saw who had let out the scream.

 

‘Oops,’ Harry said, looking uncomfortable at the idea of being all alone in the Owlery with Louis, as he shuffled awkwardly to the side. The fact that apparently he felt like he needed to apologize to Louis, even though it were his fake-dead birds that had made Harry scream, brought an unconscious smile to his face.

 

“Hi Styles,” he responded, gripping onto the bag with the camera in it. “What are you doing at the Owlery at this time of day?”

 

The question seemed to further throw Harry off kilter, as he shrugged – his eyes falling onto the canvas bag Louis was holding.

 

‘Oh – erm, well. I was just going to er-' He took so long that Louis couldn’t help but roll his eyes, and motioned towards the entrance.

 

“Write a letter? Pet some owls? See if you’ve gotten some extra allowance this week from mummy dearest?”

 

Maybe Louis shouldn’t have said the last part of that sentence – he kind of regretted it the moment that it’d come out of his mouth.

It’s just, he’d always had kind of an issue with biting his tongue, and it was his knee jerk reaction whenever it came to Harry.

The hurt, offended look on Harry’s face was enough to make him feel guilty.

And despite the fact that he maybe didn’t like the curly haired Hufflepuff all that much, he wasn’t above apologizing.

In fact, he was pretty sure his mum would send another Howler his way if she heard he was being rude without reason. Besides, while he had a passionate dislike for the kid, he hadn’t really deserved the snappy comment this time around.

 

“I-er. I shouldn’t have said that. Sorry,” Louis mumbled, looking up again at Harry from where he’d seated himself on the stone windowsill.

 

It earned him a half-hearted shrug, and a tentative smile. ‘It’s nice of you to apologize. But, I’m afraid you were quite right this time,’ Harry said with a twinkle in his eyes that Louis couldn’t quite decipher.

 

‘I er – do you know ‘bout the bulletin board?’

 

Louis wondered why the hell the boy was even bothering explaining himself to him, or why he’d even admitted to getting money from his parents. Wasn’t it obvious that Louis loathed the wealth that surrounded Harry? He was quite sure that if Harry had a little sister, she’d never have to wear hand-me-down robes from her older brother.

The more he thought about it, the more he was both irritated and amazed by the fact Harry was still taking up his time.

 

“Yes Harold, I’m quite aware we have a bulletin board. In fact, I frequently make use of it, probably more often than you do,” he said snappily, this time without regret.

It didn’t seem to deter Harry in the slightest, only caused his brows to furrow the tiniest bit at the nickname Louis had just used.

‘So, like, some Muggle-born wanted to sell their camera and I think they’re wickedly interesting. But I really, really wanted to have it, so I offered quite a large sum of money – and while I can just use the money myself, I’d just feel – hmpf.. what’s a good way to describe it? Like, just – reassured? If my mum was aware what I’m spending it on? And so I’m supposed to meet the other student here, so I thought if I come a bit earlier, I could send my mum a letter – since I’m only getting my Apparition licence this term.’

Dumbfounded, Louis loosened the grip on his bag.

He didn’t think he’d ever heard Harry say that much – especially not to him. And he definitely hadn’t expected Harry to be the one that was interested in his camera. Nor had he ever thought that there’d be _any_ similarities between the two of them, but apparently Harry also valued the relationship he had with his mum.

 

And so, Louis suddenly found himself speechless. Which Harry took as a silent dismissal, giving him a dejected look before trudging towards the actual entrance of the Owlery. ‘Right – you probably think it’s pathetic.’

 

“I don’t think you’re pathetic for wanting to consult your mum,” Louis instantly replied, unable to keep himself from speaking out.

Surprised, the Hufflepuff turned around with confusion clearly written all over his face.

He didn’t say anything, and neither did Louis as his heart suddenly seemed to skip a beat. Not wanting the awkward moment to last, and because he really _really_ needed the money Harry’d promised him, he decided to bite the bullet right away.

 

“Especially if you’re going to spend it on this old thing,” Louis added with a crooked smile – holding up the camera in his hand.

 

Fascinated, Harry immediately took a step closer to Louis to look at the camera from up close. ‘Oh! I didn’t realize… I didn’t know you liked Muggle things too,’ he said breathlessly, with his big green eyes glancing up at Louis a bit, before they went back to studying the camera.

With a frown, Louis tilted his head to the side and pulled the camera away from Harry’s periphery. He’d always assumed that Harry knew about him being a half-blood. Wasn’t that the reason why he was singled out by the Quidditch player?

“Well if I liked ‘em I wouldn’t be selling ‘em now would I?” He settled on in the end.

A small frown settled on the Hufflepuff’s face as he regarded Louis skeptically, before shaking his head.

‘If you didn’t like it, you wouldn’t have it in the first place. Or like, brought it to Hogwarts. Maybe you jinxed it. Or you transfigured it.’

 

The suspicion in Harry’s voice made Louis roll his eyes. “All that effort to spite you? And how would I’ve done that if transfiguration is quite possibly the thing that’ll keep me from obtaining my NEWTS? You might think that the world revolves around you Styles, but that just simply isn’t true.”

 

The moment the words were out of his mouth, Louis realized that he’d just made a self-depreciating comment in front of the one person who’d probably happily make use of that small moment of weakness.

And so his heckles were raised for when Harry started to open his mouth in offense at Louis’ words, but was taken aback when the boy seemed to think the better of it as he closed it again.

There was a weird gleam in his eyes, and if he didn’t know any better, he might’ve thought that Harry looked… hurt by the comment. It gave Louis an uneasy feeling, as something in him yearned to apologize and tell the curlyheaded boy that he hadn’t meant to upset him.

‘Tell me why you’re selling it.’

And just with a couple of words, that stirring in his gut evaporated completely, instead filling it with irritation and anger once more.

“I don’t need to tell you anything. Now, do you want it or not?”

 

‘As a responsible buyer, I want to know why you’re selling it. Maybe you’re selling it because it’s old, or broken – I need you to tell me why you’re getting rid of it, that’s your plight as a seller,’ Harry retorted stubbornly, and it was making Louis’ blood boil.

He had a point.

Of course he had a point.

Sometimes Louis wondered how Harry was a Hufflepuff and not a Ravenclaw, or maybe even a Slytherin like himself. He was smart enough, and he could be incredibly cunning and conniving, if necessary. He supposed it was better like this though, or they would’ve been at each other’s throats constantly.

 “Fine. I’m selling it, because I need the money. I don’t really care for it anyway, I prefer the magical side of things,” Louis bit out, hoping it’d be enough to satisfy Harry’s sudden desire to know everything. He’d already let some vulnerability slip in front of the younger boy, he wouldn’t give him any other ammunition.

‘Oh. So then why’d you buy it in the first place? Did you steal it?’ Harry asked, eyes narrowed as if that would enable him to see any potential anti-thievery hexes that Louis would’ve had to disable prior to bringing it.

And suddenly he understood again why Harry wasn’t in Ravenclaw. Because, really, would Louis go through all the effort of stealing a camera, placing an ad on the bulletin board as if he’d know Harry would want to have the camera, just so he could see it blow up in his face? That would’ve taken an awfully big amount of time and effort – of which both Louis didn’t have in his current situation of financial need and low grades.

 

“I didn’t buy it. It’s mine. It was a gift from me Mum. Are you quite finished now with all the questions? I’d almost think you’re about to ask me to drink Veritaserum just to ease your mind about this all. It’s just a camera. I don’t care what you do, as long as you pay me.”

 

And. Maybe he should’ve phrased that final sentence a bit differently, he realized as he saw Harry’s face contort into a badly held smirk that caused his dimple to appear.

It made Louis’ insides churn.

 

‘Fine, I suppose that is true. While I cannot understand why you would sell a gift of your Mum, I’m quite happy you are – I’ve been looking for this for ages,’ Harry said – choosing to let Louis’ comment slide in a surprising turn of events.

In fact, he even looked kind of… bashful and nervous, as if he didn’t want to admit that he liked Muggle stuff.

“Good,” Louis decided to cut the conversation short as he thrusted the camera into Harry’s hands. The boy stumbled awkwardly from the sudden movement, before findings his balance once more as he reached under his robes to pull out a little pouch.

‘All the money’s in there, err, thanks I think.’ Harry stammered out hesitantly, motioning towards the camera as he glanced back at Louis, almost unsure as to what he should expect from him.

“Yes well. I’d say it was lovely doing business with you, but me mum says I shouldn’t lie,” Louis responded harshly, even though he couldn’t quite understand himself why he’d felt the need to bite back.

Harry’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion as his forehead creased with folding lines that made Louis itch to smooth them back out again.

The low tone of Harry’s voice brought him back to focus in their conversation, ‘that’s…good advice. I’ll just, er, leave you to it? I’ll send me Mum a letter later.’

The sincerity in his voice, and the fact that Harry Styles, Hufflepuff golden child would bow for Louis’ presence should’ve made him feel overjoyed.

Instead, it only got Louis more agitated as he could see the other boy fidget in place – as if waiting to be dismissed by big bully Louis.

And while he might be rambunctious at times and had a sharp tongue, he’d never bully someone.

So he just felt … guilty.

“No! No, I was just – I was on my way out. Need to read up on Transfiguration, so next time I _can_ actually sell you a fake camera.” It was the closest Louis could go to an actual apology. He wanted to lift his lips into a smile as he delivered the joke, but he wasn’t quite sure if Harry’d appreciate it.

A honky laugh escaped Harry, telling Louis all he needed to know as his lips curled upwards in return.

Softer this time, he continued imploringly. “Send a letter to your Mum, Harry. She’ll appreciate that.”

The green eyes staring back at him didn’t seem so daunting anymore after he’d spoken. Now, they seemed to resemble a field of pine trees - like the forest that surrounded Hogwarts and kept them safe, and they reminded him of the emerald necklace his mum used to own. It was a confusing thought to have – that this boy reminded him so much of home.

A slow easy smile spread on Harry’s face, as he nodded almost imperceptibly at Louis, before disappearing further into the Owlery. With a shake of his head at the sudden turn of events and his odd conversation with the Hufflepuff lad, Louis just took another look at the pouch in his hand and made his way back down.

Just one shift away from a new broom, he thought to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

 

“I can’t believe you sold your camera!” Stan complained as he sat down on Louis’ bed while the latter was ruffling through his trunk in search of a clean shirt. After five years, he really should’ve known to put his stuff in the hamper if he wanted the House Elves to do his laundry too.

 

With a triumphant grin, he managed to pull out a red shirt that’d inside the shop. It was quite cold out, but he was willing to brave the weather on the one time they were allowed to wear something that was decidedly not a robe.

Also, he was pretty certain that the red shirt would do wonders for the amount of tips he’d receive, especially paired with his tight jeans.

He quickly shrugged it on, before turning back to Stan. ‘Mate, you know I’m a shit photographer. Remember when I took that photo—’

“And Hannah just fell while you took the photo?” Stan finished for him as he laughed at the memory.

Those had been the days.

The days in which Louis had tried to convince himself he was not interested in dicks. Only – he really, really was. Stan knew. Jesy and Perrie knew. He was fairly certain everyone knew, but it was a relief to see that no one cared in the Wizarding World.

Or at least, not as much as Muggles sometimes did.

Louis nodded, smiling to himself as he looked in the mirror to fix his shirt properly. ‘Yeah, that’s proof enough I’d say,’ he replied, before nodding once.

‘Shall we?’

His friend nodded, before following Louis as they made their way to the common room. Perrie and Jesy were already waiting for them, apparently bickering over what to spend their money on whilst out.

“Perrie! You can’t be seriously wanting to try and buy some of those candybars from the Weasley’s?!”

She shrugged unhelpfully in response, and grabbed a tighter hold of the pouch she was holding in defiance. ‘I like the taste of them and they’re funny! They make me sound like a proper goat,’ she giggled to herself at the memory, to which Jesy just rolled her eye in defeat.

“You know what, it’s fine – we can go there first, and then I need to go to Scrivenshaft’s  - my quill’s broken and – oh, there the boys are, finally,” Jesy jeered with a smile, making Louis let out an feigned affronted noise.

‘Jesy, do you dare suggest Stan and I were… late? No, dearest, you were merely early – a man is never late.’

 

Perrie rolled her eyes fondly at his theatrics, before gripping onto Louis’ wrist as she pulled him along. ‘Come on Louis, like you said, a man can never be late – so we have to hurry up! My aunt doesn’t like latecomers.’ 

 

With a huff, he quickened his pace to match Perrie’s, as Jesy and Stan trailed behind the two. He hadn’t really thought about the fact that he wouldn’t be able to grab a pint with Stan and just talk shit. They usually did that once every two weeks, because they didn’t really have the money to do it more often.

Besides, Louis was busy most of the time with Quidditch practice and being a rogue gossip with Jesy and Perrie.

It was great to see that Stan also liked hanging out with the girls, even though he didn’t really share their obsession with Quidditch. He wasn’t on the team, and while he did support his friends, Stan didn’t care all that much about the sport itself.

He’d once even told Louis that being a fan by association was already a lot of effort.

 

It was still a shame they couldn’t hang out, seeing as Louis hadn’t see a lot of his friend during the term so far. Stan was busy with classes – particularly Astrology, which he took together with Jesy – and Louis had been busy flying himself into the hospital wing all too often.

 

He hadn’t really been paying attention to whatever Perrie had been telling him, until she tugged on his arm again to make him stop in front of Madam Puddifoot’s Tea shop. He frowned in confusion, and turned to ask why she’d made their group stop there, when suddenly he understood what was going on.

Exasperated and slightly annoyed at the turn of events, he threw his hands up in the air.

 

‘Oh no, no, no no no. NO! You never told me your aunt was the new owner of _Madam Puddifoot’s_!’

 

He hated the sweet smell of cupcakes and love potion infused tea that emanated from the place 24/7. And now he had to go in there and work for an entire day? He was definitely _not_ looking forward to that.

Perrie just laughed, the tips of her hair turning purple, before she motioned for him to step inside. Stan shot him an apologetic look that didn’t seem to be very sincere as he caught sight of his trembling lips – threatening to break out into a grin, making Louis scowl in return.

He should’ve never had flown his broom into the stands, he concluded. But there was nothing he could do to fix that now. And he really, really needed the money.

Ignoring the snickers from Jesy, he squared his shoulders and made his way into the shop, Perrie following close behind so she could introduce him to her aunt.

 

“Auntie! I’m here! I’ve brought Louis with me, he’s going to help you out today,” she announced as she got behind the counter to peer into a backroom.

 

Almost immediately a woman appeared from inside that gave Perrie a tight hug, before going over to shake Louis’ hand. ‘Hi dear, my name’s Margaret Puddifoot, it’s so lovely that you’re willing to help. It always gets a bit busy right before Christmas.’

Right. Christmas.

He’d almost forgotten about the impending holidays and the accompanying requirement to buy gifts for his little sisters. Sighing to himself, he realized that he really couldn’t have picked a worse time to break his broomstick. It also meant that there was absolutely no way of skiving off during this shift. If anything, he’d have to try extra hard so the new Ms Puddifoot – who apparently was related to Perrie – wouldn’t be opposed to having him come in the next week as well.

With an accusatory glance at Perrie, whom he wasn’t about to forgive for not informing him about her familial relationship with Ms Puddifoot in the past years, he quickly turned to face her aunt with a blinding smile. He knew he could be very charming if he wanted to, and right now, he _had_ to – especially when he was quite aware of the fact that he didn’t really have any skills related to working in a teashop. Aside from liking tea himself, which would have been a great skill as a customer, just not so much as a waiter or whatever it was he would be doing.

“Yes, well, I’m delighted to help you out Miss. Just tell me what I can do, and I’ll get right to it.”

She seemed well taken with him and smiled encouragingly, motioning for him to follow her behind the bar. Perrie gave him a final wave and a quick thumbs-up, before skipping out of the too sweet, too pink, tooth-rotting fluffy teashop.

Margaret didn’t really seem to notice his grimace as she quickly rattled off some instructions about the coffee and tea, prior to showing him how to add just a bit of magic to make them taste … well. Magical, he supposed.

The first hour hadn't even been that bad if he was being honest. Yes, he still rather disliked the overpowering smell of sweets in the shop, but he reckoned he was doing a good job what with the tips he'd so far received. He did wonder whether it was even possible to be British and not be good at brewing a cuppa

His new boss smiled happily at Louis’ feigned enthusiasm after repeating her instructions once more, exclaiming that he was ‘a natural, Lewis’ - to his great frustration.

 

His name wasn’t Lewis.

 

‘His name’s Louis, actually,’ someone piped up, making him swivel around in surprise at the person voicing his own thoughts.

 

Which turned out to be probably the last person that he’d ever suspected of knowing the extent of Louis’ irritation at the wrong pronunciation of his name – hence caring about correcting someone else about that for Louis’ sake.

Harry shuffled forward, cheeks red from the cold outside, and smiled hesitantly in Louis’ direction.

 

‘Hi Maggie,’ he said then, his eyes seemingly taking some effort to focus on Perrie’s aunt rather than Louis.

 

“Oh Harry dear, how nice to see you!” Louis had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at that.

Of course Harry would be friends with Margaret to the extent he could easily call her by a nickname that Louis had thought to be reserved for her family members, namely Perrie.

The Hufflepuff smiled at her, before glancing back at Louis once more. ‘Nice to see you too, hope all’s well,’ he said as he took a seat at the counter. It made Louis want to retreat to the backroom immediately.

He didn’t want Harry here with his eyes following him every move he made and judging him for working at Hogsmeade’s lovesick shop. Harry confused him. He’d been under the impression that they were archenemies, or at least rivals. But maybe he’d been wrong about the boy’s intentions. Maybe it said more about Louis than Harry that he’d always assumed him to be hostile and wanting to put Louis in his place.

“Oh yes, I’ve finally got a bit of help around here. Louis – sorry darling, you should’ve corrected me sooner – is a stellar tea connoisseur,” Maggie gushed, even though she hadn’t been around to witness Louis serve one cup of tea on his own in the shop, apart from the one to demonstrate he’d paid attention to her instructions.

Harry smiled, then turned towards Louis fully, hands clasped on the countertop. ‘Oh, I can’t wait then.’

Desperate to escape his attention, Louis hurriedly let his gaze flit across the shop to see whether anyone else needed tending to, but dejectedly sighed as he realized he was not going to get out of pouring Harry a cup of tea.

Margaret also seemed delighted at the prospect as she kept chattering to Harry about how he was doing and his family. Louis had never realized that Gemma Styles, the famous columnist, was actually his sister – even though the last name was a dead giveaway.

 

“What would you like, then?” Louis interrupted their conversation promptly, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible so he wouldn’t feel forced to think about all his preconceptions any longer.

Surprised at being directly addressed by him, Harry just raised an eyebrow as his dimple came into view – making Louis groan internally. He could never tell whether the boy was purposely trying to get on his nerves to make fun of him, or if this was just who Harry was.

 

Still, it took him a while to decide, green eyes coasting over the menu, before looking back up at Louis with a small smile.

‘You know what, I’d rather have you make me something you think I’d like. If Maggie trusts you, so do I.’

 

He really should’ve known that Harry was going to say something like that. Of course he wouldn’t just let Louis off the hook.

Annoyed at the request, Louis sighed, and debated whether or not to purposely screw up the boy’s drink just to piss him off. The prospect of salary and potential tips, albeit unlikely with Harry, outweighed the instant gratification though, and he turned around towards the selection of tea leaves.

“Right. Sure. Make something Harry would like,” Louis muttered to himself. Maggie shuffled over and pointed towards a batch of mixed leaves, then winked, before tending to a lovesick couple that had just made their way inside the shop.

Hesitantly, Louis reached out towards the chamomile mix that Maggie had discretely shown him and put them aside. He wanted to not just rely on her, and so he quickly glanced back at Harry for inspiration – who was watching the couple whisper at each other with a rather content expression on his face.

His expression resembled something alike to a frog, and Louis couldn’t help the snort that escaped him. He shouldn’t even have been surprised at the fact that Harry would enjoy such displays.

Nonetheless, it was like suddenly Louis knew exactly how to create the perfect blend, as he reached for a couple of different jars – pulling out some ingredients before stirring them together with the chamomile and adding hot water, letting it sit for a couple of minutes.

 

Margaret peered over just as Louis was getting ready to serve the tea to Harry, and he couldn’t help but dispel his nerves by trying to rile the boy up.

‘Are you sure you want to take the risk of me poisoning you?’

Harry just laughed, like he always did, before shrugging. “I’m sure your pride would keep you from wanting to try and spoil your chances at beating me fair and square in our Quidditch match.”

Well. Louis had to admit he did have a point there.

Not that he’d ever say that out loud, so instead he just shoved the cup of carefully brewed tea onto the counter in front of Harry.

The curly-haired lad leaned over to sniff the contents of the cup, before his eyes lit up and he immediately surged up to grab a hold of the cup so he could take a large sip.

If Louis’d have to describe his face after swallowing the hot liquid it probably was one of pure bliss. What he didn’t understand, is why Louis himself felt the need to blush at that. “This is amazing. How’d you know that chamomile chai was my favourite?”

 

Margaret shot the two of them a knowing smile, then nudged Louis in his side. ‘Told you that you had a knack for this – he’s a natural!’ She exclaimed, looking back at Harry.

 

It made Louis feel a bit uncomfortable, being on the receiving end of such praise for a simple cuppa, so he just shrugged, ‘s a bit like potions, I s’pose, yeah?’

 

A small pout made its way onto Harry’s face, as he took another sip of the concoction. “I wouldn’t know. I’m really bad at Potions.”

 

It made Louis snort, which only caused Harry’s expression to fall more.

He didn’t really want to think about why that expression seemed to bother him so much.

‘Oh no, the great Styles has a flaw. No one’s good at everything, that’s impossible,’ he retorted, prior to letting his gaze scan the crowd in the teashop again.

He was quite certain Maggie expected him to not just sit around and try not to get into it with Harry – he was supposed to work and serve tea to annoyingly in love couples.

However, it seemed as if fate was not planning on giving Louis a break that day, because of course he was presented with Liam and his latest girlfriend Sophia.

It’s not as if Louis disliked Liam, because the guy was the epitome of nice, he always made Louis think of a very excitable puppy. But – despite the fact that House rivalry wasn’t all that it once had been, there was the fact that Liam was a loyal Gryffindor, and Louis was a Slytherin. And obviously, there was a reason as to why they’d been sorted in those Houses, which usually led to their characters clashing whenever Louis wanted to be irresponsible and Liam was trying to be sensible instead.

“Tommo! I didn’t know you worked here?” Liam said with a genuine smile, before turning to greet Harry which made Louis roll his eyes internally. He really should’ve expected them to be friends.

Annoyed at having to have that conversation with Harry present, he just smirked. ‘Payno, it’s so good to see you too. I’ve been great, thanks for asking,’ he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice, before moving to greet Sophia.

‘Ask him to make you a tea, Lou’s really good at it,’ Harry interjected – making Louis frown at the use of that nickname, as well as the sincerity in his voice.

Since when did Harry Styles praise him?   
  
Liam seemed surprised as well and shot Louis a curious look, before consulting Sophia on what she wanted.

“Can we both just have a regular tea? And a scone to share,” he asked, to which Louis nodded.

He turned around to focus on the orders, tuning out of the conversation that was happening behind him. It still wasn’t really clear to Louis what Harry was even doing here – he didn’t seem to be waiting on anyone, nor could he think of any other reason as to why someone would willingly go to Puddifoot’s teashop if not for the romantic drinks.

After delivering the scone and teas to where Liam and Sophia had settled into a booth, he made his way back to the counter, trying not to focus too much on Harry sipping his drink just inches from where he was standing.

He didn’t get to think about it too long, because it seemed that with Liam and Sophia, rush hour had officially started, causing both Louis and Maggie to run around the shop in order to serve everyone.

The two hours that it took for things to quiet down again, Harry had apparently spent on conjuring up a leather-bound journal in which he was scribbling down notes – not that Louis was paying him any attention, of course.

 

He wasn’t going to ask.

It’s just that Harry had asked him to make him another tea, and well, he figured it was the polite thing to do to make some conversation during the process to avoid awkward silences.

Louis hated silence.

 

‘So what brings you here by yourself?’

 

The moment the words escaped his lips, Louis wanted to swallow them back immediately. The way he’d phrased it made the question sound like a come-on, and he was defiantly not trying to flirt with the curly haired lad.

It was too late though, and Harry seemed more surprised by being addressed directly than actually noting how it could be misconstrued.

“I really like the tea here, and the atmosphere. It’s proper romantic.”

And that wasn’t really the answer that Louis had expected from him, nor did it answer his question on why he chose to sit here by himself. He’d seen Harry around – he was quite popular, dare he say it, charming.

‘It’s not that romantic to sit by yourself, ordering teas at the counter,’ Louis retorted as he placed a freshly brewed tea in front of Harry.

He seemed amused at the response, and shrugged. “Maybe. It’s inspiring though. It makes me feel good watching other people be happy.”

‘You write about other people being happy?’ The moment the question escaped Louis’ lips, he cursed his own inability to keep his mouth shut. There was no need to further indulge his own curiosity and to monopolize Harry’s attention. It’s not like Louis wanted that.

He felt something akin to relief though, when the Hufflepuff didn’t seem annoyed, but mostly embarrassed – as if he was ashamed or shy about his own stuff. Which was so unlike the cocky Seeker he knew from Quidditch matches, that Louis would’ve thought he’d imagined it – until he heard him mutter something.

“It’s – they’re erm, they’re not – I mean, I write, yeah, I guess. But it’s like… They’re not _good_ or anything.”

Somehow, Louis had a hard time believing that, and he was about to question it further when Maggie suddenly loomed over Harry and snorted.

‘Nonsense, my dear. He’s absolutely wonderful at writing poetry, always told him he should give it a go,’ she said fondly, squeezing his shoulder before fluttering off towards the backroom.

They both stared after her, before Louis raised his eyebrows at Harry, as if to say that she was just a bit mental. “She’s as random as Perrie can be at times, I can see how they’re related,” Louis noted with a grin that was mirrored by Harry.

He hadn’t known that Harry had a dimple that big, or maybe he’d just never wanted to pay attention to it. Louis wondered if he could poke it with his finger, and exactly how much of his finger would be able to disappear just like that if only he'd make Harry smile hard enough.

‘She’s lovely, though. I didn’t know she was hiring, actually.’

It took a while for those words to register in Louis’ brain, confusion hitting him first, before comprehension dawned on him.

“I’m not, like, proper hired staff or anything. It’s more of a one off. Not that you’d know about working a job,” he bit back, even though he couldn’t quite pin down what exactly had gotten to him from that particular sentence.

Harry seemed offended too, as he frowned. ‘Hey, I worked in a bakery over the summer.’

Louis was about to let something slip about the difference between having a job out of boredom, or out of necessity, but was thankfully stopped from doing so by Liam coming up to the counter.

‘Hey Tommo – do you still need help with Transfiguration? Jesy said something about it and I’ve finished the essay already,’ Liam said, making Louis get flustered.

He loved Jesy, but he hated that she’d apparently run her mouth on his subpar marks. Louis gritted his teeth, and tried not to look too annoyed as he simply nodded. He was proud, but he knew he’d only end up hating himself if he didn’t say yes to Liam’s help.

 

‘Good – I’ll see you later then, yeah? Soph and I are gonna head out. Nice to see you too Harry, I didn’t know you’d finally –' and just like that Liam was still speaking but no sound was coming out.

 

Confused, Louis looked at Harry who just shrugged, even though his cheeks were distinctly brighter than they’d been before. He raised an eyebrow at that, but turned back to Liam regardless, who made a spluttering sound prior to letting his shoulders sag in defeat as he trudged off to meet Sophia at the exit.

“Hm, that was weird, wasn’t it? Like the cat got his tongue,” he mused as he gauged Harry’s body language.

He could’ve sworn that Liam’s sudden silence was caused by Silencio, but he hadn’t actually seen Harry do anything. Which meant that the boy must’ve been incredibly talented in Charms, being able to sneak in a murmured wandless spell. But most of all, it made him wonder why he’d do that.

Surely Liam hadn’t been about to say anything insulting or embarrassing, it wasn’t in his nature to rib people, and Louis truly questioned if there even was anything embarrassing about the green-eyed Hufflepuff?

 

“I didn’t know you were in Transfiguration with Liam,” Harry tried to change the subject – something Louis was way too good in himself to not notice, “or even knew him at all.”

He decided that it wasn’t worth the effort to try and figure out what the Hufflepuff was trying to hide, so he played along.

‘I don’t think there’s anyone in our year that _doesn’t_ know Liam the handsome chaser.’

Harry frowned at that for some inexplicable reason, and grumbled something that Louis didn’t quite catch.

‘It would be pretty embarrassing if I didn’t even know my competition on the Quidditch field, now wouldn’t it?’ Louis added, not being able to help himself in wanting to elicit a reaction from the other lad.

“I suppose. Doesn’t mean you have to be friends, or have him tutor you,” he muttered and Louis really wondered what had caused him to be so stroppy all of a sudden.

Just when he’d thought that maybe the Hufflepuff wasn’t as annoying, maybe even a tad cute, he seemed to revert back to the persona that Louis did not appreciate at all.

With a frown, Louis narrowed his eyes and leaned slightly over the counter to ensure Harry would pay attention to him. ‘I know you and I don’t exactly like each other, but you can’t be _that_ daft to think Slytherins are incapable of having friendships outside their Houses. I’m not narrowminded. I can actually recognize a good person when I see them – regardless of their parentage or their Sorting. Liam is a good person, and I don’t know why you feel it up to you to judge me being friends with him, but you have _no_ right to comment on who I choose to befriend and what I do with them.’

While the fact that Harry seemed to dislike Louis made his skin prickle, he didn’t really mind.

He did mind when judgmental people extended their feelings for Louis to the people he hung out with.

He knew that sometimes he took jokes too far, or his banter was too sharp for people’s liking, but that didn’t mean his friends needed to be judged for that.

 

Harry seemed at a loss for words at Louis’ sudden outburst. In fact, his sudden downtrodden expression – Louis had to admit he’d noticed the glassy quality of the boy’s eyes, but had they always looked that shiny? – made him feel a bit uneasy, and not nearly as vindicated or relieved as he’d expected himself to be. Being thrown for a loop seemed to be constantly returning theme whenever he interacted with Harry, and he wondered how he could still be so affected by the Hufflepuff. 

Well, Louis couldn’t afford to think anymore about it, he was going to drive his point home by turning around and dramatically ignoring the boy at the counter.

“I – Lou—I mean, Louis, I didn’t – I didn’t mean that,” he could hear Harry stumble over his own words. And as much as he felt the pull towards him, wanting so badly to hear how exactly he then _had_ meant that, he simply didn’t even have the time.

Maggie called him away to help her with inventory, and when he returned to the shop eventually, Harry’s seat was empty – a generous tip left in its wake though. Louis shouldn’t have felt so confused by it all. 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

 

Louis frowned as he realized that Harry was definitely heading towards him, and he wondered what he wanted from Louis this time around – he looked far too pleased with himself and too determined for Louis’ liking.

 

“Styles,” Louis addressed him, which made Harry’s grin only spread wider, dimples deepening in his cheeks.

 

‘I’ve got good news and bad news for you. What do you want to hear first?’

 

So Louis had been right in being suspicious, and narrowed his eyes at how Harry had now sat himself comfortably onto the table. He wondered why he got away with everything, whenever Louis did something like that he was always the first to get caught by snooping ghosts or prefects.

 

“I don’t like this,” he muttered out, to which Harry pouted.

 

‘Don’t be like that, just humor me Lou, I promise it’s not that bad.’

It annoyed Louis to no end how he was so weak for Harry’s pout and how the boy made frequent use of nicknames he couldn’t ever remember giving him permission to use.

 

But he couldn’t help but indulge the boy, sighing before crossing his arms in defeat.

“Fine. Bad news first.”

 

Satisfied with that choice, Harry smiled brightly before schooling his expression back into a more neutral one. He fiddled with the rings adorning his hand, a telltale sign he was from a pureblood longstanding wizard family.

There was a long tradition of handing over symbolic rings, particularly those that included certain stones or carvings that were supposed to guide the wearer through life. Obviously, Louis didn’t have one.

 

“Well, the bad news is that Liam can’t tutor you today. He erm, he had an accident in DADA and broke his wrist.”

 

Louis couldn’t help but wince at that, trying not to get too caught up in his vivid imagination as to how Liam’s wrist could’ve snapped or how much it hurt to have madame Pomfrey heal it.

While his arm was probably fine, he’d still be drugged out of his mind – Louis knew that much from experience.

It also meant that Louis would probably fail – just because he’d been so focused on Quidditch, which he wouldn’t play either if he didn’t pass this.

 

He really hated that he’d let it come to this - too much time spent on Quidditch and practical jokes, and too little on his actual schoolwork.

 

‘Great. I assume the good news is you don’t have to beat me in our final match of the Quidditch season,’ Louis muttered, feeling the ever present itch he got when Harry was near pulling from under his skin.

He hadn’t actually thought Harry would’ve overheard his comment, but the confused frown on his face said otherwise.

“What are you talking about? I was going to say that the good news is that I’m actually better in Transfiguration than Liam is anyway, and I can help you instead.’

 

Now that, Louis had not seen coming. For a beat or two, he just stared back at Harry with a dumbfounded expression. 

 

‘You want to help me?’ He clarified, gesturing towards himself to ensure he’d understood correctly.

 

“What has Quidditch got to do with any of this?” Harry asked at the same time, obviously not planning to let go of this topic Louis so desperately wanted to avoid.

Sometimes he really did understand why his mum always warned him that he should watch his mouth.

But Louis also wasn’t one for lying, so he just scoffed and defiantly lifted his gaze to stare up at Harry, who was still half hovering over him.

‘Well, let’s not pretend that you’ll take any opportunity to take me down in the matches. It's common knowledge that if you're failing your courses, you're off the team.’

 

“Of course I want to beat you - you’re the best there is! Everyone at Hogwarts knows your career is in professional Quidditch. Which is why it’s an achievement if I ever _do_ get to beat you – but always fairly!” Harry replied, voice now turning towards something that seemed to resemble hurt and offense.

 

‘Fairly?! You literally blatched me in our first match! I almost broke me arm because of you!’ Louis exclaimed as he stood up from his seat, coming to realize that Harry and him were now at eyelevel.

Which meant that Harry would still tower over him if he were to stand up. Louis despised that of course.

Especially because the Hufflepuff didn’t seem to take him seriously if he didn’t feel threatened by Louis and chose to remain seated on the table – which again, why was there suddenly no one around to witness such gross indecency?

Moreover, the look Harry was giving him was really not on par with the reality of the situation.

Which was that Louis wasn’t making the foul up, and he didn’t want Harry to make him feel guilty about something that he should obviously not feel any guilt for.

It was Harry who’d flown into him, and who’d not only made sure that Louis had gotten behind in his quest for the Snitch, but he’d also gotten a nasty scar on his hand which had been stuck between the two brooms. Jesy and Perrie had wanted to take him to madame Pomfrey, but Louis had been so disappointed in himself for losing the game that he’d hidden – waiting too long to get it properly fixed.

 

“It was an accident! It was my first game, and so I was nervous and distracted and yes – I flew into you, I’m sorry but I really didn’t mean for that to happen!” Harry said earnestly, green eyes staring back at Louis, making him waver in his anger for a second.

 

Then he realized that this kid was known for charming everyone, and remembered that the blatching hadn’t been a one-off accident.

 

‘If it would’ve happened once, I might’ve believed you. It also would’ve helped your case if you would’ve apologized after that match – you know, THREE years ago. Also, when it happens more than thrice, I’m pretty sure that means it’s intentional. Like when you blurted me just last season? You almost lost me the fucking cup!’ Louis was getting more riled up with every minute of speaking.

In all honesty, it felt kinda nice to unload on Harry, especially with all the stress of Quidditch, schoolwork and money added into the mix.

Harry huffed, crossed his arms as his expression turned stormy, prior to standing up and matching Louis’ stance – only now it dawned on Louis how tall Harry exactly was compared to his own stature.

 

“Are you daft?! There was a bloody bludger coming your way! If I hadn’t taken a hold of your broom you would’ve been pummeled from the side!”

 

The statement made Louis’ thoughts stop in its tracks.

He did _not_ remember that at all.

All he could think of was that suddenly Harry had been focusing on him, rather than the Snitch in front of them, and had in a split second pulled on his broom – making the both of them move out of the Snitch’ path.

He hadn’t even registered any bludgers, so Harry couldn’t be right. Could he?

 

‘That’s a lie. You’re just lying to me. We’ve been enemies ever since we had that first Quidditch match. You’d probably celebrate with glee if I can’t compete because I failed my NEWTS. Why are you even trying to explain yourself? Why do you all of a sudden want to help me with Transfiguration? What’s your ulterior motive here?’ Louis snapped, eyes momentarily dropping from Harry’s face to his hands that kept fidgeting. Why did he keep fiddling with that stupid red ring on his finger?

Harry’s face fell at his harsh words, which only caused Louis more confusion as he somehow felt the uncontrollable urge to put an end to that frown and hurtful look, even though he simultaneously couldn’t stand him.

They were quiet for a while, no sounds but their own breaths, as Louis waited for Harry to explain himself, but nothing seemed to come from it.

Louis sighed once, before turning back to his books.

He frowned as he saw the empty scroll and could feel the frustration build up inside of him as he started scraping his material together, getting ready to retreat to the library instead of the common area. He didn't need any distractions in the form of annoyingly confusing boys. 

“I never apologized after what I said to you in Herbology, you know.”

The resigned, slightly determined tone in Harry’s voice made Louis still, his eyes narrowing as he slowly turned his gaze back up to regard Harry’s sincere expression.

‘So? It’s not your fault is it? Should’ve expected that from you, really, shouldn’t have been so surprised,’ Louis scoffed, even though the now pained features of Harry’s face made him waver.

Something was off, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“I don’t—I wish you wouldn’t think that. I’m not _like_ that. I _despise_ people who are like that. And I’m so terribly sorry for what I said. I didn’t … Just. Please, let me make it up to you by helping you with this. I’m not out to get you. I’ve never been. Quite the opposite, actually.”

Harry let out a-deprecating chuckle that threw Louis off completely.

It didn’t settle well with him. He just couldn’t understand this version of Harry, couldn’t really string it together with the perception of him he’d always had in his mind.

 

‘What’s your point? Am I your charity project now? The pureblood helps the half-blood with an essay, so the half-blood gets to stay on the team?’

Harry was quiet for a while, not responding to Louis’ goading, instead flexing his fingers again.

“I don’t care about that stuff, okay? I know you think that I do, and frankly, I haven’t given you much reason to think otherwise, but I promise you I don’t. It’s just, I don’t know why, but whenever I’m around you I find myself saying the wrong things without meaning to.”

He wasn’t quite sure what it was that made him change his mind, but something in Harry’s words and expression resonated with him. 

With a dramatic sigh, he slowly took his seat again, grabbing a hold of his quill as he shot an expectant look up at Harry.

 

‘Well. Make it up to me then by helping me write a mind-blowing essay so I can totally crush you in our next Quidditch match.’

 

A big smile broke free on Harry’s face, as he scrambled to sit down next to Louis.

 

Noone needed to know if that smile did something to Louis’ insides.


	6. Chapter 6

 

Perrie narrowed her eyes as she regarded Louis, chewing on her sandwich speculatively. It was really working on his nerves, so he pulled the sandwich right out of her mouth and shot her a look.

 

“Stop doing that. You’re looking at me like I’m an alien.”

 

She frowned, and then bit into the sandwich nonetheless, even though Louis was still holding it.

 

‘It’s not my fault! You’ve been dodgy these past weeks, I’ve only seen you at practice and in class.’

 

Well, Louis had been spending an awful amount of time getting extra assignments done, with the help of Harry. And maybe, sometimes, he'd found himself lingering around, playing Chess with the boy as well. 

His eyes unconsciously drifted towards the Hufflepuff tables, immediately spotting Niall, which meant that Harry couldn’t be far off. When he couldn’t find the familiar curls though, he quickly reverted back to Perrie.

“I’ve been busy working on me classes, to make sure I can actually _use_ my practice during the final game before Christmas break,” he pointed out.

She shrugged, and curiously looked behind her to see what Louis had been smiling at, prior to turning back.

‘We both know you’re lying. Something else has been taking up your attention and you know Jesy and I will figure it out at one point.’

And while history should’ve taught Louis that she was right, he was quite certain that there wasn’t anything important he was keeping from them.

So what if he was slowly starting to admit that Harry wasn’t as bad as he’d always thought? He was actually quite funny, and smart.

Louis could see that, when he wasn’t thinking about the fact that they obviously grew up in very different worlds. 

 

“Do you worst. I’m not worried.”

 

‘Worried about what? What’d I miss?’ Jesy said as she sat down next to Louis, who shrugged at her. ‘Did you already get round to getting a new broomstick?’

 

Immediately, Louis could feel his good mood disappear. He’d initially thought that his savings, together with the money earned at Puddifoot’s and his sold camera would’ve been enough to buy a new broom, while still leaving him with some money to go home and to buy presents for his siblings.

However, when he’d gone out to get the Thunderbolt he’d wanted – and would definitely need to stand a chance against his competition in getting drafted for a professional team – he’d had to spend much more than that.

In turn, he was quite sure that he’d have to ask his mother for the ticket from London to Doncaster and back, because he just didn’t have the funds anymore for a stupid train ticket.

Which he wouldn't have needed in the first place if he’d been able to spend his summer savings on getting his Apparition license, instead of a new broomstick.

 

“Yeah, it arrived yesterday,” Louis sighed, taking another sip of his tea.

His friends frowned at the sudden sullenness in his demeanor.

‘Okay, since when are you sad about being able to fly again on a brand new broom?’

 

“I’m not _sad_ , I just… I don't like buying expensive stuff. And this was pretty expensive, and then I needed to buy the feet straps separately. So I'm just – well, I guess it's fair to say that my wallet is feeling exhausted," he conceded in the end.

 

Louis was aware of the concerned eyes that were now trained on him, and could feel himself starting to become uncomfortable with the direction in which the conversation would inevitably head.

 

So instead, he chose to find a common distraction in the form of Liam Payne.

He hadn't seen him since his impromptu shift at Puddifoot's, and after hearing Harry's story, he was curious to know how the Gryffindor was doing. With a flourish, he stood up from his seat and waved at Liam to signal he was coming over.

 

"Oiioii!!"

 

The loud noise earned him a smile, and a spot being cleared for him right next to Liam. He vaguely wondered whether that was out of friendliness or whether the others had scurried away at the sight of a Slytherin coming over to their table. As much as stereotypes had faded, they were still there, and Louis did have a reputation of being rather... rambunctious.  He shrugged it off though – not wanting to spend time mulling about what Liam’s friends thought of him, and chose to instead focus on the boy sitting next to him.

 

‘Hey Tommo, haven’t seen you in a bit,’ Liam said, but Louis didn’t acknowledge it as he immediately leaned in to take a hold of Liam’s arm.

 

“Hey mate! How’ve you been? Heard about your accident,” he said in lieu of an answer, frowning as he didn’t find anything too damning, even though he was wondering what could’ve made him snap his wrist in DADA. Professors were usually quite strict on what kind of spells were being used, as safety came first – especially when it came to dark arts.

 

When he glanced up back at Liam, all he received in return was a blank stare. ‘Accident?’

 

Louis nodded, suddenly feeling a tad confused as he let go of Liam’s arm and searched the great hall again for a certain curly-haired Hufflepuff. When he still couldn't find him, he frowned, but soon realized that Harry had told him the day before he would be taking his Apparition exam.

While Louis was supposed to take it last year, he hadn’t had the money or time to participate – and this year, well. His crash had definitely thrown that option out of the window.

Slightly disappointed, Louis turned back to a still somewhat baffled Liam, nodding his head as he went.

 

“Yeah, rumour has it that you snapped your wrist whilst defending yourself from some dark spells in class.”

 

Louis was dead serious, but Liam just started laughing in sheer surprise, and frankly, that made Louis feel a tad stupid.  

 

‘Who told you _that?_ ’

 

It wasn’t all that funny. Because that laugh meant Harry hadn’t told him the truth. And if there was one thing Louis hated, it was liars.

 

Why would Harry have made up that lie?

It’s not like he’d actively tried to sabotage Louis.

In fact, he was pretty sure he’d never done better in Transfiguration than with Harry’s help. And they’d been talking in Herbology as well, even working together on another project much to Professor Longbottom’s delight.

Because Harry had been right – they _were_ a pretty good team. Maybe not despite, but actually _because_ they were so different. Their different perspectives usually meshed well together, and he found himself looking forward to spending time with the other boy. He was nice, and kind, and despite Louis’ best tries – he couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the outrageous jokes and puns Harry’d make.

He just couldn’t wrap his head around it.

 

“Harry,” he muttered, distracted by all the thoughts running through his mind.

 

A short, shocked gasp of air suddenly escaped Liam, making Louis look up quizzically – just in time to catch Liam’s eyes widen to comical proportions.

 

‘Oh! Oh bollocks. Oh no. Er, you know what’s funny? Ha, I – er.. well. I just remembered, you know, I actually did snap my wrist?’ Liam started, voice higher than normal, as if he was asking himself whether or not he was telling the truth, before continuing more sure of himself – his voice a lot steadier.

‘Yeah, I snapped it because Niall used Expelliarmus but he didn’t aim properly so, you know, it was a bit rough.’

 

What Liam probably hadn’t thought of, is that, well.

Liam was actually a shit liar. And Louis would know – he was in Slytherin for a reason, he was a _great_ liar.

Plus, there was also the fact that Niall was in Louis’ DADA class.

 

Abruptly, Louis rose up from his seat, posture ramrod straight as he tried not to let his voice tremble. He felt dumb, and embarrassed.

Whatever Harry was planning on doing, it couldn’t be good, and he hated that he’d actively convinced others to join him in his quest to annoy Louis. Moreover, he couldn’t understand why it made his stomach clench at the realization that he’d – over the course of mere days, had apparently gotten so used to spending time with Harry as friends. He hadn’t even seen it for what it was – a distraction maneuver.

“Why are you lying and covering for him? I don’t know why he made that up, or why he’s suddenly trying to seek me out, but I hadn’t pegged you as someone who would go along with such childish bullying practices,” Louis seethed, before stalking out of the hall without looking back once as he felt his blood boil.

 

He could hear Jesy and Perrie following him hot on his heels, as he quickly strode towards the sofa he’d claimed years ago in the Slytherin common room and let himself fall face first into it.

His friends settled in next to him, a hand slowly coming up to rub his back.

 

‘You could’ve told us, you know?’ Perrie started out carefully, to which he immediately tilted his head upward to glare at her.

 

“Tell you what?”

 

Jesy snorted, but made a pathetic attempt to look remorseful once Louis shifted his glare from Perrie onto her, prior to speaking up. ‘I mean, Lou, it’s quite obvious something has happened with you and the curly-headed lothario from Hufflepuff. We’re not blind.’

This time, his irritation blended together with confusion as he sat up straight. Perrie let her hand fall from his back and just stared back at him, blue eyes unwavering.

 

“I honestly do not know what you’re insinuating here,” he repeated, emphasizing his confusion by throwing his hands dramatically up into the air, even though he could feel his cheeks reddening inexplicably – he didn’t feel flustered, so why was he getting flustered?

 

‘You don’t have to deal with him all on your own if he’s bothering you,’ Jesy urged, suddenly sounding incredibly protective – like the human embodiment of a Patronus.

 

And for some reason that Louis couldn’t quite understand – it bothered him. Because Harry, despite what he’d screamed in Liam’s face, hadn’t really _done_ anything to prove that he was actively trying to bother Louis. And it didn’t sit well with him that his friends now thought of him as a bully.

“That’s not…” He trailed off. He didn’t really know how to describe Harry, or how he felt about the situation, but Louis was quite certain that he’d been the one making an unnecessary scene. He could’ve just asked Harry, but instead he’d wanted to weasel out the truth from Liam. By yelling in his face and then stomping out, all the while making a lot of assumptions.

“He’s not bothering me.”

Perrie made an aborted sound, as if she was going to protest, but Jesy shushed her. ‘So then what _is_ he to you? Because as far as I can remember, you’ve been antagonizing each other since you flew into each other in your first match against him, but this is the first time I’ve heard about him going to such great lengths to get to you.’

Louis shrugged, suddenly starting to feel uncomfortable with all the questions being thrown his way – questions he didn’t have answers to. “I don’t know, okay? Just. Don’t be rude to him. He doesn’t deserve that. Let’s just focus on Quidditch. We’ve got the match tomorrow. I want to smash them, put my new broom to good use,” he said instead.

 

And while he could see that his two friends shared a look with one another, he could also pinpoint the exact moment in which they decided to drop their inquisitive questions, and let the subject go for now.

He just wished his own heart would stop beating so fast.

 

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

“Lou! I did it! Louis!” Harry bounced next to him, almost screaming into his ear as he pulled him into a short hug. It really made Louis reconsider their partnership in Herbology for next term.

 

He was mulling it over anyway, what with what Liam had said – or hadn’t said, really. Then again, he also needed this grade to stay where it was.

 

“I got my Apparition license!” Harry exclaimed excitedly, beaming at Louis in such a way that he couldn’t help himself but grin back.

 

Well, one thing was clear – Harry obviously hadn’t yet been made aware of the fact that Louis knew he’d lied. He wondered if maybe now was the time to tell him, but then again, Louis would be fine pretending for this final week. He’d only have the Quidditch match after school, and 2 more days before he’d get a nice Christmas break to stew over everything.

 

‘Congratulations, Harold. You can visit your mum anytime you want now,’ he added, thinking back to their first, genuine conversation back in the Owlery.

He’d been pretty nice then – Harry, that is.

Louis hadn’t been able to keep his snarky remarks inside, but then again, who could blame him? They obviously both had held a lot of prejudice against the other at that point. It’s what made it so hard to accept that Harry would lie, and for that matter, convinced Liam out of all people, to lie for him as well. Louis had started to consider him a friend. And friends – well, they definitely didn’t lie to each other.

 

Sensing his thoughts drifting away, Harry nudged him lightly, before giving him one of those intense stares as a lazy smile slid onto his face. “Don’t be silly Lou, we can only apparate during holidays. But I did get to go Hogsmeade after the exam yesterday, so I brought some candies. I couldn’t quite remember what you liked so I just bought a bunch and you could maybe just choose whatever?”

Louis closed his eyes, silently cursing the fact that this was exactly the kind of behavior that was causing him mental whiplash.

It was so painstakingly sweet of Harry to do that, to want to celebrate with other people and _share_ – to have wondered about what Louis would’ve liked, and to have bought everything as a resolve…

It was the exact same kind of thing Louis would’ve done if he would’ve had the funds.

But then again, there was this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that told Louis he couldn’t trust the posh boy who came from a very different world, no matter how much he seemed to resemble a soft, fluffy marshmallow.

 

Perhaps it was his safety blanket to be a bit sinister, he supposed, so before he’d even realized, the words had already left his mouth.

‘Are they hexed?’

Harry seemed taken aback by the response, and searched Louis’ eyes for something that Louis couldn’t quite pin down, before letting out a dejected sigh.

“No, of course not. I thought we were past that.”

And despite his earlier confusing thoughts, and the fallout he'd had with Liam - Louis couldn’t help himself but believe it.

 

‘You’re right, sorry, I guess I’m just nervous for the Quidditch game.’

 

It elicited an immediate, stubborn shake of the head from Harry. “Nonsense! You’re easily the best Seeker this school has seen since Harry Potter. You’re going to crush it, I know you will!”

If that statement made Louis’ heart beat a bit faster, no one needed to know that. He didn’t reply, and instead just focused on the array of candy Harry was still holding up for him to choose from.

The determined frown that had settled on Harry’s face disappeared immediately as Louis reached out to grab a hold of a chocolate frog, which apparently wasn’t eccentric enough for Harry’s taste as he wrinkled his nose at Louis’ choice.

He didn’t comment, but Louis still found himself explaining the choice suddenly. ‘I don’t really enjoy Wizardry candy all that much – I usually ask my mum to send me sweets once in a while,’ he shrugged.

 

“Well, what about your little sisters then? Would they like to have some of these? They’re not at Hogwarts yet, are they?” Apparently Harry was very persistent about sharing his newly found sugary riches with Louis one way or another.

And he couldn’t do anything but feel fondness over it.

He hadn’t even really remembered sharing that tidbit of information with him, but Harry certainly did, because he was already sorting out some of the candy based on the favourite colours of his four sisters.

 

‘Erm. Yeah – they would, I s’pose. Can’t believe you actually remembered them and their favourite colours. That’s incredibly generous of you.’

 

Louis shot him a wondrous look, as he contemplated asking why Harry was being so nice to him. He still had trouble fathoming what had brought the boy to act like this, but just as he was about to speak up, professor Longbottom strode into the Greenhouse – effectively bringing their conversation to an end. This final class of the term would be spent on receiving and discussing their grades.

He’d received most of his mid-term grades already, so he was pretty anxious to hear how Harry and him had done for their final project. Jesy had been very clear – he’d only be playing against Ravenclaw if he’d improved his mark from a Poor to an Acceptable. Harry had done no less than Outstanding so far, so Louis hoped he hadn’t dragged his grade down by collaborating with him.

 

“Tomlinson, Styles – you’ve done really well.  Your scroll and your data on the Snargaluff pods, including your respect for the plants we’ve worked with this term has been impressive.  I’m very happy to say you’ve been awarded with an Outstanding. Louis, if you keep this up you’ll be able to drastically improve your end of year assessment as well. And I’m happy to see you’ve been able to set aside your differences.”

 

The warmth in professor Longbottom’s immediately caused Louis’ cheeks burn red. He wasn’t used to being praised like that for his schoolwork. Harry turned to smile brightly at him, immediately launching himself at Louis for a hug.

Which was apparently a thing they did now.

Louis wasn’t complaining, he kind of liked that he fit right in Harry’s embrace, how he could put his arms on his hips and his head reached right above his shoulders. He usually hated being smaller, but somehow he didn’t mind with Harry.

 

“I’m so proud of you! Will you be back on with the team now permanently?” Harry asked him, curiosity laced through his voice as he regarded Louis with shining eyes – his hands still burning a hole in Louis’ back.

‘Yeah,’ Louis nodded enthusiastically. ‘Thanks to your help though. I wouldn’t have passed Transfiguration or done well on this assignment without your help. Really Harry, thank you. If I hadn’t gotten my marks up, I would’ve been off the team. I don’t- I don’t know what I would’ve done then.”

He’d half murmured those words as a secret confession into Harry’s chest, and he was pretty sure he felt Harry’s heartbeat speed up at his sincerity.

When he looked up to see his face, he couldn’t help but smirk at the flushed cheeks the Hufflepuff was sporting.

 

It was also the moment he felt like poking his dimples and kissing the dopey expression right of his face.

 

Maybe the thought should’ve scared him, but instead he just felt a warm fuzzy feeling settling in his chest. Harry was thoughtful and nice, and yes he was competitive when it came to Quidditch, but so was Louis himself. And despite Louis’ attitude in the beginning, Harry had been open and helpful and sweet – charming his way into Louis’ life. Yes, he was wary of the whole Liam situation, but so far Harry had actually only ever been extremely helpful, had never done anything to confirm Louis’ suspicions.  

 

But the realization that Louis had slowly begun to be attracted to Harry also came with new anxiety. Did Harry like him back? Was he even interested in guys? Would he be repulsed if he knew Louis was gay?

 

He didn’t really have the time to think about all the questions that were now swarming around in his head, as Harry had started talking to him.

 

“You don’t have to say that. You’d have done great yourself. You just needed to catch up a bit,” he tried to say, but Louis firmly shook his head, reluctantly letting go of Harry’s waist as he suddenly realized how close they were standing in the midst of a classroom full of people he didn’t want to witness their exchange. 

 

‘Learn how to take a compliment, Curly,’ he teased as he took a step back, even though he couldn’t help himself but quickly reach out to squeeze his arm. ‘I erm.. I have to go now. Prepare.’

Harry nodded, then bit his lip as if he was physically holding himself from speaking up.

‘Are you going to come watch? Scope out the competition?’ Louis teased, feeling exhilarated as soon as the words had left his lips. Maybe he’d overstepped, but it was still casual enough that Harry could downplay it if he wasn’t interested.

Surprise flickered across Harry’s face, but he quickly settled on a mirroring smirk. “I suppose that’d be the smart thing to do. For strategic purposes.”

 

‘Alright. Well. See you somewhere in the stands, maybe.’

 

Harry nodded, and Louis couldn’t help but feel very pleased at that.

He was about to turn around and start towards the Quidditch field, when he heard Harry call out for him again.

 

“Hey, should I drop off the candy for you? You have an owl yeah? She can bring it to your sisters or like, your common room, I guess,” he added sheepishly, and it made Louis wonder how he’d ever considered the boy anything but friendly.

 

‘Yeah, sure. Erm, her name’s Cinnamon. Should be up in the Owlery – she doesn’t like the drafty dungeons.’

 

He didn’t mention how Cinnamon had a knack for biting people she didn’t deem worthy of her company. If anything, it’d give him a good indication whether his budding crush was misplaced or not.

 

Harry shot him a quick nod and waved, prior to trudging back up the path towards Hogwarts.

 

With a giddy feeling in his stomach, Louis made his way to the locker room of Slytherin, immediately peeking in his own locker to stare lovingly at the new broomstick.

“Louis, you’re early – Oh my god, your new broom looks amazing!” Perrie gushed, pushing right past him to reach out for it, her hand stroking the brand new, polished wood.

‘Yeah, she’s beautiful,’ he nodded, before knocking Perrie’s hands right off of his broom, closing the locker after taking out his uniform.

He’d only been able to make two test-rounds yesterday, so he was anxious to get back on there and make sure he was well used to the new dynamics before the match.

Perrie appraised him knowingly, then motioned behind her. “Jes is just finishing up her inspection of the field – but since you’re getting dressed, I’m assuming you passed it?”

Louis shot her a smirk, and raised his eyebrows. ‘Pezza, did you not have faith in me?’

 

She just gave him an unimpressed look.

 

‘Okay fine, I was a tad behind in some courses. But Harry really did me a solid – he’s amazing at Herbology. Did you know that he’s actually gone into the Forbidden Forest and like, has spoken with the centaurs?’ Louis had certainly been impressed when Harry had told him about the accidental meeting. It did make a lot of sense in hindsight, thinking about how well the boy had done in their classes with Hagrid.

 

Perrie’s eyebrows raised at that, before suddenly gasping as if something had clicked in her brain.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake! JESY! JESY GET IN HERE,” she started screaming, grabbing a hold of a confused Louis as she set him down on the benches.

‘What?! What’s going on?!’ Jesy moaned, obviously both annoyed and curious at the sudden commotion caused by Perrie. Once she saw Louis sitting there, she shot Perrie a nasty look – probably meant as a scolding for the disturbance, before plopping down on the bench right next to him.

‘Oh! Louis, I was looking for you. I made sure to speak to that Irish friend of Harry, Niall I think, yesterday, but he just started laughing? He was with Liam, and he apologized for what happened, wanted me to tell you that it was all a misunderstanding? He said that he’d try and find you after the match to explain. Sorry I couldn’t find out more – what?!’ Jesy had been staring Louis down with a very stern, almost concerned gaze as he tried to not feel too disturbed that she’d gone fishing for information and demanding apologies, when she was interrupted by an impatient Perrie.

She'd squeezed Jesy's shoulder rather roughly in an attempt to get her attention, and was now making all sorts of faces at her.

Louis was happy for the distraction, because he wasn’t quite sure how to explain that he’d maybe started considering the entire thing to be a blessing in disguise – regardless of the way it had all gone down.

‘I already know he’s passed this term, I went to Mazoni first thing this morning to check – you’ve been cleared to play,’ she turned back to give Louis a quick smile, before focusing on Perrie again.

He had no idea what kind of silent communication was going on between the two, and apparently neither did Jesy, because Perrie groaned once – her hair taking on a fierce red hue for a second or two before changing back into blonde, and then shook her head in resignation.

 

“You’re both daft, you know? But it’s fine. I’ll wait for you to realize. Let’s focus on the match if you can’t see what I’m seeing,” she spoke ominously, once again confirming why she was in Divination and Louis had dropped that course as soon as he’d gotten the chance to do so.

 

Jesy, however, was also a big fan of using magic to predict the future or to discern patterns and make astrology charts. She was usually even more excited than Perrie was about it all, but this time she was just shooting her confused looks.

On the one hand, it made Louis feel vindicated that for once he wasn’t the only one not getting whatever she was alluding to. On the other hand, it must’ve been a very outrageous or eye-opening thought if not even Jesy could get on board with it right from the get go.

 

But most of all, Louis was incredibly nosy and he hated secrecy, so with only one of the two being in on whatever it was, his chances of corrupting one person to spill the beans to him had also decreased dramatically.

He sighed, and tried not to think too much about the green-eyed Hufflepuff – instead redirecting his thoughts to the match against Ravenclaw as they discussed strategy.

 

While Jesy was the captain of the team, everyone knew that Louis was a wildcard and had certain co-captain privileges the other weren’t given. Part of that came from the fact that the Seeker usually had their own game to play that was entirely separate from the fierce competition surrounding the Chasers and scoring with the Quaffle. It also meant that while Jesy was able to more or less calculate the tactics or strategy of the other players in the field, she didn’t have the same level of experience or knowledge of the role of a Seeker.

Which is why Louis usually did what he wanted in whatever way he wanted to do it – as long as he scored them the Snitch. He knew that Ravenclaw technically didn’t stand a chance against them; their Seeker was relatively young and inexperienced, and it was not more than fair to say that Louis was by far the best Seeker at Hogwarts anyways.

But still – he had a new broom that could throw him off his game, and he couldn’t afford distractions. They needed to win the Quidditch Cup, and Louis needed to be on top his game; it was well known that most scouts would show up unannounced to start poaching.

It wasn’t long before they made their way outside, waiting for the others to join them and quickly getting some warm up rounds in. The Ravenclaw team, whilst fairly competitive, used up most of their time coming up with elaborate strategies on paper rather than actual practice – allowing the Slytherins some time to themselves on the field as public started to trickle into the stands.

This was their sign to fly back towards the locker rooms and wait their turn to be announced by Madam Willis.

“…And then, we’ve got Team Slytherin! This is their first official match of the season, and they all look to be right in shape! We’ve got Tomlinson zooming past right now on what appears to be a brand new broom!” Greg, a 7th year from Gryffindor who was looking to get into the radio and presenting business, said – using Sonorus to amplify his voice.

Louis felt exhilarated, hair whipping in the wind – despite the hairband he’d used to ensure he’d be able to see properly throughout the game, with his teammates surrounding him as they did an honorary circle of the field prior to getting in position.

He was hanging back, slightly higher than the others to give him the much needed leverage if he had to shoot off into whatever direction the Snitch would go as soon as it was released. Within seconds of the whistle going off, he could see the golden little thing flutter away – immediately making a beeline towards it.

He wasn’t alone, though.

Clearly, the Ravenclaw Seeker was new but eager, and frankly a bit reckless. He was also quite sure as he quickly let his eyes flicker to the side, that the Ravenclaw wasn’t so much looking for the Snitch but was just following Louis around the field.

Which, admittedly, was a good strategy if you knew you could accelerate at the right moment to grab a hold of the Snitch.

But to do that, you’d need to have a general idea of where the Snitch was.

Louis grumbled as he realized that he’d temporarily lost sight of the golden object, eyes raking over the vast skies as he started pulling his broom down a bit, steering towards the audience.

He liked to give a bit of a show, sue him.

Making his way towards the Slytherin stands, he kept scanning the air surrounding him, whilst taking note of the Ravenclaw’s position behind him. He allowed himself to take a quick sweep of the audience as he zoomed past. He spotted Stan fairly quickly, loyal as always in the Slytherin box, but couldn’t help himself when he found he was anxiously scanning the crowds in the Hufflepuff section.

A small smile made its way onto his face as he realized there was someone wearing a green Slytherin scarf in the midst of all black and yellow dress. An idea formed in his head as he quietly regarded what the Ravenclaw Seeker was doing behind him as well as the position of the Snitch.

It’d been out of his direct line of vision for a bit – he’d never admit that he might’ve been temporarily distracted by spotting Harry dressed in Slytherin colors – but he was quite certain that he’d be able to convince the other Seeker that he knew where it was.

Louis could feel the blood pumping through his veins as he suddenly accelerated, heading straight towards the Hufflepuff stands with such precision, that the entire stadium seemed to think he’d spotted the Snitch. With a smirk, he halted right in front of it and made sure to lock eyes with Harry – winking at him, prior to letting himself dramatically drop downwards. Whatever those confused feelings he’d been having about Harry meant, he still felt the urge to best him - and impress him at the same time.

He dove lower and lower, could hear the wind whipping behind him – as well as the soft whooshing sound of a broom that was following right after him. He calculated the distance from him to the ground, and rather than slowing down, made sure to pick up some speed – goading the other Seeker into diving down faster as well.  

“Oh, it looks like Louis is diving for the Snitch right there, and – OH! He didn’t- did he just? Louis Tomlinson just executed an excellent Wronski Feint, pulling up just meters away from collusion, while Ravenclaw’s Dennis Rodgers is down!”

 

Triumphantly, Louis veered off towards the center of the field, dodging some other players as he looked for the Snitch.

It didn’t take him long after that to spot it circling somewhere higher up in the air, and subsequently capturing it – effectively ending the match in favour of Slytherin.

“And after that epic stunt, there’s no doubt that Slytherin is unbeatable with the Tommo as Seeker! Congratulations, Slytherin – who win with 210-30,” Greg announced, as the teams flew towards each other to shake hands and congratulate each other on a game well played.

Some of the Ravenclaws looked slightly bitter at the fact that Louis had succeeded in making Rodgers crash, but the boy hadn’t even broken anything.

Compared to what their Beaters had done to Louis in their unofficial scuffle at the beginning of term, this was child’s play.

Besides, he smugly noted the tinge of admiration in all of their gazes – knowing that he’d pulled off an incredibly difficult move.

 

It wasn’t until he returned back to the Common Room, that he felt slightly downtrodden at the fact he hadn’t seen Harry after the game. Niall had bounced right up to him, laughing as he congratulated Louis on a game well played, before saying that Harry had a lot of training to do if he wanted to stand a chance against him next term. He’d forced a smile at that, and had been about to walk off when Niall had grabbed onto his arm in an attempt to make Louis look at him.

He’d known Niall for years, and he’d always enjoyed a laugh with the Irish lad, but he’d never seen him look so serious when he spoke up.

“Hey, before you go back to the dungeons, I just wanted to clarify something. The whole thing with Liam was my idea – he only heard just now what went down between the two of you, and he’s embarrassed. Harry’s my best mate here, and I don’t know exactly where the two of you stand right now, given what Jesy was on about this morning, but I want you to give him a fair shot.”

 

Louis felt himself flush, as he frowned at the implication there.

‘I haven’t… I’m not… What are you on about?’

 

Niall just blinked owlishly, before suddenly bursting out in another cackle. “For a Seeker with hawk eye vision, you’re kind of blind, aren’t ya?”

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

 

He tried not to let Niall’s words linger in his head, but he couldn’t help but turn them over and over.

What had he meant, and why had he taken the time to speak to him? What could’ve possessed him to put Liam and Harry up to the strange little white lie? It was bothering him the entire walk back to their dorms, as he let Jesy and Perrie chatter on next to him.

 

It wasn’t until he saw the big Cheshire grin on Stan’s face as he entered their dorm room that something was terribly wrong.

 

“You’re not gonna believe what’s on your bed, Lou!”

 

Louis couldn’t even properly register the question or come up with a response, before he heard the telltale hoots of his owl.

 

Warily, he walked over to the edge of his bedframe, letting his eyes trail over the situation in front of him.

Not only did he find his owl making herself very comfortable on his duvet, picking her way through the threads that his mum had painstakingly repaired over the summer – there was also an enormous assortment of sweets, as well as an envelope lying next to it.

‘Harry,’ he whispered to himself as he caught sight of the scroll’s writing.

While he couldn’t help but wonder how he’d gotten Cinnamon into the dorms – aside from pet regulations and Cinnamon's own disdain for drafts and cold rooms, he was quite certain that only Slytherins were able to get into the Dungeon with a password that changed every single day – he also felt something warm settle over him.

 

“Who’s it from?” Stan pondered, smacking loudly as he tried to scrunch up an empty candy wrapper, only to see it turn into a paper airplane instead.

It made Louis giggle – leave it to Harry to put in such dramatic detail.

 

Still, he told Stan to fuck off and leave his sisters’ candy alone, then proceeded to close the curtains around his bed – providing him with some much needed privacy as he tried to still his loud beating heart prior to opening the envelope.

 

He couldn’t help but feel a slight sting of disappointment when he saw there was no letter inside.

Nonetheless, his curiosity was peeked when he realized that the envelope did hold a Polaroid. Taken with his old camera. The one he’d sold to Harry.

And it was beautiful.

He’d managed to capture Louis mid-air, the Snitch within reach as he’d stretched out his arm – making it seem like the photo was actually magically moving, even when he knew it wasn’t.

He stared at it for ages, smiling to himself at the knowledge that Harry had taken the effort to take a picture of him doing what he loves most, until he realized that something had been scribbled on the back of it.

Louis grinned at the runny ink that hadn’t caught on well to the polaroid paper, even though it reminded him that Harry hadn’t grown up the way Louis did. For the first time, it only made him feel fond and amazed at their different worlds – not annoyed or embarrassed.

_‘Dear Lou, you were amazing today. Sorry for the trouble I caused you this term. Hope you like the photo. Love, Harry. PS Cinnamon is wonderful’_

 

That had to mean something, right?

Ripping the curtain away, he tumbled out of bed – only to find three very curious and slightly ashamed faces looking back at him.

 

“Ehm.. We were just wondering if we really did hear an owl hooting from your bed,” Jesy tried, but Louis just shot her a look.

 

‘That was pathetic, even for you.’

 

She shrugged, not all too bothered at being found out, her eyes instead trailing the makeshift pile of candy on Louis’ bed, Cinnamon perched on top of the pillow, and finally – the polaroid clutched tightly in Louis’ hand.

When he realized he wasn’t getting out of this, he just sighed and shuffled over to sit across from his friends on the floor. 

 

Stan broke the silence, scraping his throat loudly. “So, is this where we discuss that Harry Styles, your number one Quidditch rival sent you a shitload of candy assorted by colour? Which includes as scary amount of your favourite Muggle sweets in a separate bag?”

 

Louis shot him a murderous look – ‘did you sort through all of it when I wasn’t even here? I hope Cinnamon bit you.’  

 

His friend didn’t even seem flustered at his comment, shamelessly popping another Skittle that wasn't actually his into his mouth as he showed his other hand. Sure enough, there were clear some imprints of Cinnamon’s little beak. He felt a bit proud of her.

 

“S not a surprise, she bites everyone – except for you.”

 

Louis huffed, and moved to carefully put the Polaroid into his back pocket. He grabbed a hold of Cinnamon, letting her settle into his lap so he could stroke the back of her head and calm himself. ‘Don’t listen to him, princess, you’re the very best owl.’ She hooted softly, picking at her own feathers a bit, before letting Louis continue his ministrations.

 

Jesy rolled her eyes, shared a look with Perrie, before pointing at Cinnamon. “In all those years you’ve had Cinnamon, she’s never really been nice to anyone, hence Stan’s hand. Yet here she is, far away from the Owlery – in the dungeons of all places – carrying a present from Harry Styles out of all people.”

 

Offended, Louis pointedly showed them the tags that had been attached to the smaller bags of candy. ‘It’s not for me. They’re presents for my sisters. He’s probably just trying to be nice now that he figured out how broke I am.’

 

Perrie blinked, then shook her head. “Oh my god. Who are you trying to fool here? This is even worse than sending _you_ candy. He knows you love your sisters more than anything, so he got you something he knew you’d appreciate – gifts for them.”

 

‘m not trying to fool anyone! I’m just saying that Harry’s too nice and I don’t deserve this,’ Louis muttered, burying his face into the soft feathers of Cinnamon.

She seemed disgruntled by his sudden movement though, and sprung out of his lap entirely, leaving him with a pout and zero distractions to hide behind.

When he looked up to his friends, they all looked slightly exasperated or perplexed. Perrie, however, seemed to have the most trouble concealing her facial expressions – the tips of her hair changing every so often, switching between hues of blue and green.

 

“Louis,” Jesy started, and he could feel his cheeks getting hotter as she regarded him with a hint of fondness and wonder.

 

‘Okay fine. It seems like I might’ve accidentally developed some sort of strange crush on Hufflepuff’s golden boy this term,’ he blurted out, resigned to the fact they'd make him spill anyways.

 

Perrie squealed, and then reached over to hug him tightly. “I knew it! You were this close to waxing pure poetry over his herbology knowledge during practice, I just knew! I’m so happy for you!”

 

He frowned at her enthusiasm, and slightly pulled away from her. ‘What do you mean? I don’t do that. Besides, it’s stupid. ’m not supposed to like him.’

Stan snorted, and pointed to the mountain of candy. “If someone was attentive enough to willingly look for Cinnamon and to send you a bunch of your favourite Muggle sweets, as well as separate bags to give to your sisters, and wears your House colours even in the wrong stand – then you’re not stupid for liking them.”

The image of Harry wearing the green Slytherin scarf made him smile unconsciously, fingers slipping back to ghost over the photograph he’d hidden in his pocket.

He frowned suddenly.

In the time that he’d known Harry, he’d also seen him around school grounds. He was popular, and hung out with almost everyone. Louis had always thought he was trying to show how privileged he was. Now, he understood that all Harry wanted was to make others happy – and if he had the funds, he’d try to realize it. Which is why he wasn’t sure whether or not Harry even reciprocated his feelings. He didn’t even know if Harry was interested in boys like that.

‘But, do you think he’s like..,’ he struggled to put his thoughts into a coherent question. Jesy just smiled, then looked over knowingly at Perrie.

“Somehow, I don’t really think you need to worry about that Lou.”

‘But I’ve been so awful to him in the past,’ he whined, ‘and you all hate him too.’

Apparently, they found his statement funny, as all three of them burst out laughing. “Oh Lou. We didn’t hate him – in fact, I’m quite sure you never hated him either. Yes you were rivals, and yes, sometimes you took it a bit too far. But that’s on both of you. So if you both can move past that, so can we.”

 

Perrie nodded at Jesy’s words, and Stan just shot Louis an encouraging smile.

The sweet moment was broken when Cinnamon decided to shit all over his duvet, prior to starting to screech loudly.

 

Louis wanted to scold her, but he knew that it was his own fault for having her in his dorm room anyways. With a final hug and whispered words of thanks to his friends, he took off with Cinnamon and his duvet – wanting to properly clean it with some help of the house elves. Sometimes, Louis liked doing chores the old fashioned way, he’d found, even though he also loved the laziness that he was allowed thanks to magic tricks and the house elves at Hogwarts.

He guessed he was just used to cleaning up behind his sisters. Whenever he was stressed out, it provided him with some comfort – and so, after letting Cinnamon fly back towards the Owlery, he set off towards the Kitchens in order to find some cleaning supplies.

What he didn’t expect to find there, though, was a loud cackling Niall pressed up against Harry who was busy making… something.

Rationally, he knew that the closeness between the two shouldn’t have made him feel so jealous or possessive, but he couldn’t help the drop of his stomach at the sight of the two. They looked so comfortable, and intimate.

It made him realize how badly he wanted that himself. With Harry.

 

And Louis wasn’t anything if not petty, so he cleared his throat before loudly announcing his arrival by greeting some of the elves he recognized. He kept his eyes trained on the two boys, and felt entirely too pleased when he saw how Harry’s eyes immediately found him.

‘Hi Master Tomlinson, what can we do for you today?’ Slowly, he tore his own gaze away from the Hufflepuff, and trained his eyes on the house elf in front of him.

“Hey Topsy. I’m just looking to clean this duvet,” he started, still feeling Harry’s focus burning in his back.

The house-elf he’d been addressing shot him a look of despair, and gave an experimental tug on the duvet to see if he could take it, but recoiled as soon as he saw Louis’ grip only tighten on the duvet. He pouted, but Louis just shook his head stubbornly.

‘Right, of course Master Tomlinson. Wait here,’ Topsy spoke with resignation, then ran off to gather the supplies Louis’d need.

 

It was quiet for a bit, and when Louis finally dared to look back up – he realized that Niall had left the Kitchens, leaving Louis and Harry alone.

 

“Hi,” Harry started, taking a step towards Louis, the countertop with freshly baked cookies now long forgotten.

Louis gave him a weak smile, nervously nodding his head in lieu of greeting. It seemed to halt Harry, who fidgeted with that same red ring around his finger, before lifting his head again.

 

“Erm. Did you get everything I sent you? Cinnamon’s a very nice owl,” he drawled out, eyes firmly locked onto Louis’ face now.

 

It should’ve unnerved him, the way in which Harry was so openly staring at him.

It did the opposite though, as he felt his insides warm at the frog face he was making.

He hadn’t done that with Niall. He always did that with Louis.

 

Nodding, Louis wanted to elaborate, but was interrupted by the sudden return of Topsy who’d brought a tub of hot water and something that seemed to resemble soap, or wash powder of the sorts.

He thanked the house-elf, then turned back to watch Harry quickly snap his gaze back up from where he’d been ogling Louis’ bum.

Well. Definitely into him then.

 

‘Thank you. For the candy. Which is far too much, by the way. You’re spoiling my sisters,’ he grinned, which earned him a bashful smile from Harry.

 

“I’m sure they deserve to be spoiled a bit, though,” he replied softly.

 

It made Louis' smile widen. ‘Yeah. They do.’

 

Harry seemed to hesitate, before taking another step towards Louis.

 

“And er.. did you see the envelope?”

 

Immediately, Louis’ hand reached for the Polaroid inside his robes, pulling it out and holding it up to show Harry.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever had such a nice photo,’ he breathed out, while Harry flushed at the words.

With just another step, he could’ve easily reached out and grabbed a hold of his hand if he wanted to.

And he did want to, he just wasn’t sure what Harry would do.

 

So instead, he kept talking. ‘Really, thank you. For years, I was convinced that you had it out for me because I was a half-blood, or a Slytherin, or maybe both. And I owe you an enormous apology for judging you based on the faulty assumption that you were judging me. Because you’re not like that at all. You’re kind, and generous, and gorgeous, and smart, and funny. Cinnamon’s never liked anyone besides me.’

He tacked on, which coaxed a laugh out of Harry. It made Louis feel relieved, but he could still feel his heart beat loudly as he suddenly found himself looking right at the green orbs that somehow made him feel safe.

 

“Cinnamon’s a bit like you,” Harry started, which should’ve made Louis feel offended, but he just giggled.

“She’s very picky, a bit stubborn, defensive, righteous, and she doesn’t like it when people are mean to her. She’ll lash out if you don’t treat her right. But she deserves the best. She’s also very pretty.”

‘Are you saying you think I’m pretty?’ Louis questioned, eyes flickering to Harry’s lips, before focusing back on the endless green irises.

He nodded, licking his lips a bit dazedly, before speaking up again. “You’re beautiful. And you always make my head spin, and I so badly wanted to have you like me. I hope you know that all I’ve ever really tried to do was get your attention. I thought that the rivalry was just a bit of banter. I like getting a rise out of you.”

Louis could feel Harry’s breath on his skin, and he _really_ wanted to reach out and kiss him. But he also wanted to hear what else he had to say, so he craned his neck just so that their mouths were ghosting over each other – yet leaving enough space for him to talk.

‘Yeah?’

“You look hot when you’re angry. You’re feisty. Like a tiny firecracker.” Harry breathed, placing a hand on Louis’ waist. He narrowed his eyes at the taller boy, and drew back for a second – only to see Harry follow the movement by swaying forward lightly.

‘I’m not tiny,’ he grumbled, much to Harry’s delight.

“You are, though. But that’s part of why you’re the best Seeker. You’re fast, and agile, and so, so smart. I love that. You’re so ambitious.”

 

‘What else?’ Louis asked breathlessly, letting himself be pushed against the countertop as Harry’s hand tightened its grip on his hip. He bit his lip, then pulled Harry just a tad closer by linking his hands behind his neck.

“You’re fierce, and fearless, and brave. You’re loud, and loyal, and mischievous. You love your family. You’re so attractive. That red shirt you wore at the teashop,” he exhaled – teasingly letting his lips brush Louis’ cheek.

‘When Liam stopped by,’ Louis suddenly remembered, to which Harry nodded, letting his head fall down, looking back up at Louis from underneath his lashes.

 

“I was so jealous. He knew how much I liked you - almost said it to your face. But the tutoring, it would've been the perfect opportunity to spend time with you, and  I hated that I missed it. Niall asked Liam to not show up, so I could go instead.”

And at that, Louis just laughed, before grabbing a hold of Harry’s chin and bringing it downwards, so his lips were once again ghosting over his own.

 

‘I wouldn’t dream of doing this with anyone but you,’ he whispered, before finally closing the gap and kissing Harry.

 

It was everything and nothing like he’d expected – but it was so, so wonderful.

Harry’s lips were a bit chapped from the cold winter air, but his tongue was soft and warm as it explored the inside of his own mouth.

It was new and familiar all at the same time, passionate yet intimate.

It was the best kiss he’d ever had, and so he couldn’t help but chase Harry’s lips as he broke away from the kiss to gasp for air, immediately attaching them again with a grin.

Maybe they were different, but when it came to the fundamentals – they were very much the same, and that’s really all that mattered.


	9. Chapter 9: Epilogue

‘Hazza! I got it!’ Louis screamed, not caring about all the other Hufflepuffs looking rather disturbed at the Slytherin that had suddenly entered their Common Room.

Not that it was unusual these days; more often than not Louis’d stay and sleep with Harry in his bed, rather than in the Dungeons, as it allowed him another ten minutes to sleep in before his morning classes.

Besides – he just didn’t sleep well if Harry wasn’t there with him. It was a good thing the Hufflepuff was fascinated with the merfolk you could sometimes spot through the glass wall that separated the Slytherin common room from the lake, and didn’t feel isolated or cold in the space – which was what Louis had feared once he’d brought him along with him the first time.

He still smiled as he thought back to how the painting in front of the entrance had been incredibly snooty about the whole ordeal, up until Harry mentioned his last name. It had made Louis want to smack his own forehead, for having forgotten that Harry’s sister Gemma had been a former Slytherin herself. He’d been so nervous when he’d first met her, but had soon found out that riling Harry up was, like Louis, her favourite pastime which had given them plenty of stories to bond over.

Louis skipped into Harry’s dorm room, decidedly ignoring Niall as he jumped onto Harry’s napping form in bed. ‘Harry, baby, wake up,’ he whispered into his ear, before biting down harshly on his earlobe – resulting in the immediate disgruntled awakening of his boyfriend.

“Lou? What—” he started slowly, as if he wasn’t quite sure what Louis was doing, but it seemed to suddenly dawn on him when his eyes widened.

“You got it? You got your licence?” He asked excitedly, now sitting up so he could properly look at Louis.

He barely nodded, before he was pulled into a passionate kiss.

Louis let his hand trail down Harry’s chest, taking advantage of the fact that he usually slept naked, drawing a moan from Harry.

“Oi! If you two are going at it – again – can you at least use a Silencing spell this time? ‘m trying to do some work, and I don't really want to hear you slobbering all over each other's dicks” Niall suddenly interrupted their joyous snogging session, making Louis temporarily break away from Harry just to give Niall the finger.

‘I have a right to celebratory sex since I passed my Apparition exam. Go study somewhere else, Horan,’ Louis said decisively, before latching onto Harry’s lips again – a soft whimper escaping into his mouth as Harry placed a hand on his bum, squeezing it through the long robes he was wearing.

“Merlin’s fuck – fine. I’m leaving, just… You do realize you have to leave for your Quidditch match in about 10 minutes, right?”

This time, Harry wrestled his way from underneath Louis, just to stick his head out from the curtained-off bedframe and smiling at Niall. ‘Don’t worry Nialler – when have either of us _ever_ given up the opportunity to compete?’

Louis grinned, sitting up so he was now straddling Harry’s chest, before pulling out his wand to ensure that no one would be able to see or hear them.

Immediately, Harry pulled Louis down again so they were lying chest to chest now. ‘You know we can’t actually have celebratory sex until tonight, right,’ he whispered, before placing a lingering kiss in Louis’ neck that had him sigh softly.

Louis grunted something unintelligible, but begrudgingly nodded his head. “Fine. We’ll wait until after the match – even though we both know I’m going to win and so really, I deserve a reward right now.”

The determined tone in his voice made Harry smile, and Louis couldn’t help but place a kiss on his bare chest, letting his fingers trail a bit lower – brushing over Harry’s nipple.

A hiss left Harry’s lips at the sensation, which left Louis feeling accomplished for all of the three seconds that it took before Harry had flipped them around and he was now being held down by the taller boy.

‘You’re cheating, that’s unfair,’ he pouted, closing his eyes as he jutted out his lips more, obviously asking for a kiss that Louis wasn’t about to deny him.

Their eyes locked, and Harry let go of Louis’ wrists, rolling off of him so that they were now huddled close together, facing each other – just enjoying each other’s company. They hadn’t had much time to do just that lately, both of their schedules being extremely busy with NEWT preparation and Quidditch, and Louis’ Apparition course.

Jay had been furious to hear that Louis hadn’t wanted to ask her for money, and had calmly explained that while she was grateful to have such a wonderful boy, he shouldn’t feel financially responsible for her or his siblings. She’d paid for his train tickets, and Louis had felt incredibly relieved when he’d sat down with his mom for a proper heart to heart. They’d discussed everything, from his schoolwork, to Quidditch, and – inevitably – the boy that had apparently given Louis a year’s supply of candy to buy his affection and had somehow in turn stolen his heart.

Harry had apparated to Doncaster for Louis’ birthday, and even though they hadn’t officially been together for more than two weeks – it certainly helped that they’d known each other for almost six years.

He fit right in with his family, even though Harry was way too intrigued by each Muggle knick-knack he’d been able to get his hands on during his stay with Louis.

It’d been, for lack of better words, magic nonetheless.

They’d arrived at Platform 9 ¾ together, what with Harry picking him up in Doncaster and had used Side-Along Apparition to take Louis with him. The nausea he’d felt at apparating was nothing compared to the nerves he’d had walking into the train hand in hand with once-archenemy Harry Styles. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it was still so _nice_ to see that nobody was bothered – some even coming over to congratulate them, saying they’d seen it coming ‘ _for years, what with that sexual tension between the two’_.

It’d made Harry let out a horrible honky laugh that had Louis cracking up, and just like that – his nerves had been gone.

 

They were back today though.  

 

“I think today’s the day,’ Louis whispered, fingers entwining with Harry’s absentmindedly as he stared at the tiny freckles on Harry’s cheek.

 

‘Yeah?’ Harry asked quietly, before reaching out and brushing Louis’ fringe to the side.

 

He nodded almost imperceptibly, then sighed as he confessed. “I’m quite nervous.”

 

‘Don’t be. You’re the best. And I’m not just saying that cause I love you.’

 

Those three words brought a smile to Louis’ face. They’d only recently started saying it to each other, and he couldn’t get enough of hearing Harry utter those words to him with so much meaning and conviction behind them.

“I love you too. Don’t just let me win, though. Even if I’m right and the scouts are here. I’ll know,” he warned, to which Harry let out a laugh.

‘I won’t, love. You know I wouldn’t do that.’  Harry was quiet for a bit, before lifting their entwined hands and pressing a kiss to them.

He let go then, and sat up on the bed as he reached for the red ring that was always present on his fingers. Louis almost pouted as he removed it – he couldn’t imagine Harry’s hand without it. Yet here he was, taking a hold of Louis’ hand and inspecting his fingers to see where the ring would fit, before unceremoniously shoving it on there.

“If that was a proposal that was really disappointing,” Louis deadpanned, then added, “and way too soon” as an afterthought.

Harry laughed and leaned in to pull Louis in an upright position as well.

‘This is my family’s ring, with the ruby standing for nobility. It’s worthy of a king, but you’re the one who makes me feel like a king everyday that I get to spend beside you. It’s also a symbol of protection, passion and prosperity, and a reflection of the sun. Most of all, it’s supposed to keep your body safe and your mind sane and peaceful. I want you to wear it today during the match. For luck,’ Harry finished, looking at Louis expectantly.

Which was not very helpful, because all he could do was fish-mouth.

He was reminded of what Maggie had told him once – how incredibly good Harry was at finding the right words, a talent he shared with his sister. Still, he was always taken by surprise whenever Harry directed that skill towards him, or made him privy to the new songs and poems he’d written in his leather journal.

Louis loved it.

Loved that he trusted him so much, and loved that Harry wrote about him – saw him as inspiration.

He sometimes tried to return the favour by leaving little post-it notes all over, with Harry usually getting more excited over the post-its themselves than the content of his notes, given that they were apparently a Muggle-y object.

Still.

He was speechless at the bold words Harry had used, and he hadn’t even really gotten to process the fact that he was now wearing Harry’s family heirloom.

He was wearing Harry’s ring.

The cold metal felt foreign around his finger, and he suddenly understood Harry’s strange fascination with twisting and turning the ring all the time.

He kind of felt like having a good cry about how lucky he was to have Harry as his partner.

But he couldn’t help it when his usual defense mechanism kicked in, and poked Harry’s naked stomach. 

 

“I thought you believed in me own skills and now you’re saying I need luck?”

 

Harry didn’t even flinch as he was being prodded, just smiled. ‘No. But I would like to see you not get hit by a Bludger this time. Or ram into someone else.’

Louis raised his eyebrows at that, leaning forward to bite into Harry’s shoulder as punishment for bringing that up. “Scared I’m gonna fall in love with ‘em?”

Even though it was a joke, he secretly really enjoyed seeing Harry’s eyes darken the moment the words had left his lips. Within seconds, he was being pulled into a rather rough kiss that he immediately deepened, chasing the taste that was so distinctly Harry’s as he licked into his mouth.

 

‘No, because you’re already in love with me. I’m yours, you’re mine,’ Harry growled.

 

It made Louis giggle, loving the fact how Harry took their commitment so seriously. “Thank you baby, for the ring. I’ll wear it round me neck on the chain, so I won’t lose it accidentally,” he murmured, pressing his lips against Harry’s once more, before getting up.

They’d have to hurry towards their respective locker rooms to get in a final practice round prior to the game.

Louis knew Jesy would actually have his head if he didn’t show up on time just because he couldn’t resist giving Harry a blowie, so he extricated himself from Harry’s grip and started towards the door.

“See you in a bit babe, love you,” he yelled, not caring at all for the poor souls who still needed to study for their final term assignments as he made his way through the Hufflepuf common room once again.

He was in love and about to play a monumental game. He was excused.  

 

 

Louis hadn’t expected the onslaught of people wanting to wish him good luck on the game once news broke out that there were three scouts in the stands – looking for new talent.

Moreover, he hadn’t really thought about how much anticipation there apparently was to see him and Harry fight each other for the Snitch. While he hadn’t been nervous about that before, he suddenly started to doubt his own abilities – anxiety eating away at him, as he kept pacing in the locker room.

 

“Lou. Stop it, you’re driving me nuts! You’re never this nervous! Is it because of the scouts?” Perrie exclaimed, her arm slung around Jesy who was also on the edge of a breakdown, given that she was in her final year and gunning for a position in the Holyhead Harpies.

This truly was her last shot at getting scouted right out of school.

 

He shook his head, not really knowing how to explain that it wasn’t even the scouts he was nervous about letting down, but it was his friends and family and _Harry_.

He just wanted Harry to calm him down, but he couldn’t really ask for his boyfriend to come and comfort him when he was, well, busy being their rival for the time being.

Instead of gracing Perrie with a response, he just shook his head and lifted the chain out from under his robe and quickly let his fingers graze over the red gem, prior to pressing a kiss on it.

That’d have to do for now.

 

With a quick glance at Jesy’s nervous state, as well as the ticking clock, Louis made the executive decision to gather his teammates around him so he could start giving the inspirational speech that was usually her forte.  

“Okay guys. This is our shot at the Cup. We’ve got this in the bag, really, but we have to bring it home! It’s our final match of the season, so better make the most of it. Remember that whatever happens though, we should all be really proud of ourselves for our achievements this year – you’ve all done really well! Now let’s go smash my boyfriend’s team so I can tease him about it all summer!”

His teammates laughed at that, then brought their hands and brooms together, before getting into position to fly out.

The moment everyone was on the field in their respective starting places, Louis’ eyes found Harry’s, and he couldn’t help but smirk at the obscene gestures he was making at Louis. Even from afar, it was clear that Harry’d known about Louis’ nerves, and was trying to distract him by pulling funny faces, silently asking if he was doing better now that he was actually on his broom.

He shot him a little smile, then bowed his head, focusing on nothing but the game as soon as he heard Miss Willis’ whistle go off and the familiar fluttering of the Snitch’ wings.

He’d spotted a golden sparkle early on in the match, but so had Harry, as was evident by him tailing Louis and trying to get past him.

 _“Well, whoever was worrying that the dynamics between the two Seekers would be different can rest easy! They are going at it!”_ Greg yelled enthusiastically when Louis deliberately let himself sway sideways, his protective gear shortly coming into contact with Harry’s cleated legs.

‘That’s a foul _and_ a feint,’ Harry complained – voice almost getting lost in the harsh wind whipping in their faces, but Louis heard it nonetheless.

He grinned, expecting the retaliation before it came and he pulled his broom up abruptly to avoid Harry’s attempt at a similar move.

“We both know I’d never pull an actual foul on you,” he yelled, eyes zeroing in on the Snitch that kept moving at a faster pace than his own broom. He leaned forward with a frown, urging himself to pick up speed, then made a sharp turn as soon as he saw it flutter towards the stands.

He smirked to himself – Harry didn’t like flying close to the public, was always afraid he’d accidentally hit someone.

Louis, on the other hand, loved the thrill of chasing the Snitch through crowds; it was an additional challenge that he was oh so willing to take on.

It took immense control and precision to hover right over the throngs of people without actually coming into contact with any of them, all the while not losing focus of the shimmery wings - even as it kept escaping Louis’ grip.

Just when he’d stretched out his hand for the fifth time, feeling the soft flutter on his fingertips, the Snitch decided to take a nosedive straight towards the grass pitch.

‘Seems like you’ve got some performance issues,’ he suddenly heard from behind him – and he couldn’t help but groan as he spotted Harry just out of his periphery, imagining just the way in which he was probably wiggling his eyebrows at the double entendre.

Not even sparing him a glance, he just lifted one hand off his broom to give him the finger as he tried to guess when the Snitch would pull back up again.

In an instant, he spotted an anomaly in its moving pattern and, as he predicted,  the golden ball stopped its descent, only to take a sharp turn to the right.

Harry obviously hadn’t expected it, what with him having to break with enormous effort, whereas Louis was now well within reach of grabbing it.

He stretched out his hand - which in hindsight, wasn’t that smart given the incoming Bludger.

Louis had heard people shout, but hadn't paid any attention to it, only really registered it when he recognized Harry’s voice – “NO!”

Instead of experiencing the satisfactory feeling of cold, gold metal pressing against this palm, he felt sizzling, white hot pain searing through his lower arm on impact.

Gritting his teeth, he tried to clear his vision, using his thighs to keep in control of his broom while he cradled his right arm closer to his chest and attempted to get his bearings.

This was bad.

He could hear Greg yelling about injury, and a Bludger gone rogue, but all he could think about was how he could best ignore the fact that his wrist and quite possibly his entire lower arm was fractured.

Refusing to look down at the state of his own body, he clenched his eyes shut for a short second, before blinking a stray tear away as he steadied his resolve.

He wouldn’t let this opportunity go to waste.

He only needed one hand to catch the Snitch – he could do this. Without losing his balance, Louis lifted his other hand into a thumbs up signal, then leaned back down and started gaining speed again - supported by loud cheers.

 _“Tommo’s going to keep playing! What a lad_ ,” Greg admired, but Louis tuned it out, feeling all the more determined to get to that Snitch before Harry did.

Louis was at an enormous disadvantage now though. He couldn’t go as fast as he’d been flying before because it’d mess with his balance. And while he knew that Harry was probably concerned about his arm, he also hoped that he’d be able to compartmentalize and just focus on the match for now - they were competitors first on the field.

He’d lost precious seconds trying not to fall or hurt his arm any further; seconds that Harry could’ve used on locating the Snitch.  

He didn’t have to worry long about finding it himself, because it was as if the Snitch was taunting him, when he felt it whizz right past his head.

Turning his broom around, Louis knew that this was it.

Harry was close, but was coming in at an awkward angle, one in which it was practically impossible for him to grab onto the winged ball.

Louis, however, was flying right in the Snitch’ wake. He was too slow, though. He tried leaning forward, but it was no use – he couldn’t reach it. Louis racked his brain for something, _anything_ , that’d allow him to decide the match.

With a sigh, he started to slowly lift his feet from the straps as he realized there was only really one move that’d give him enough leverage to grab a hold of the Snitch.

It was incredibly risky, especially given the height at which they were circling the pitch, but it was his only chance – and he was going to take it.

 

Another glance backwards told him that Harry was swiftly gaining speed now, so he had to act fast.

Taking a deep breath, he quickly used his core body strength to lift himself onto the broom, as he inhaled loudly – trying to ignore the bursts of pain coming from his arm at the sudden movement.

He bit his lip in utmost concentration, drawing blood as he leaped forward, trusting his Thunderbolt to keep going long enough so he would land back onto it.

“ _Oh, we’re seeing some acrobatics now – the Tommo is up on his Thunderbolt to close the gap with the Snitch and - and he’s got it! He’s actually got it! Louis Tomlinson catches the Snitch, deciding the match for Slytherin, winning them the Quidditch Cup this year! Congratulations! Now let’s hope his arm injury isn’t too serious,_ ” Greg’s ecstatic voice carried through the stadium, and just like that – Louis felt all tension escape him.

An unadulterated laugh bubbled up from his throat, thrusting the Snitch in the air while he guided himself down as adrenalin was rushing through his veins, numbing the pain for the time being.

Within seconds of touching ground, Madame Pomfrey rushed over and unceremoniously grabbed a hold of his broken arm, tutting at his irresponsible behaviour, before muttering a soft _Ferula_. The soft pressure and stabilization immediately made him feel better, and he couldn’t help but laugh at the bewildered, frenzied look in Harry’s eyes as he bound over to inspect the damage.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake, Lou! Are you okay baby? You scared the shit out of me, but I’m so proud of you,” Harry rambled as he pushed himself through the crowd that was beginning to form around Louis, consisting of his own teammates. 

Louis just nodded and gave him a blinding smile as he reached out to tug him closer, pulling him into a bruising kiss. 

Madame Pomfrey coughed lightly, but he was quite certain he could see a small smile tugging at her lips, before sternly pointing at his arm. “No movement, and I want you to stop by tomorrow so I can check if it’s set properly, okay Tomlinson?”

Harry immediately consented, telling her he’d drag him to her office himself. Louis giggled, and he wondered if maybe Madame Pomfrey had sneaked him some loopy pain relief as well, or if it was just sheer elation from the match that was making him feel high.

They sat there on the ground for a bit, surrounded by all sorts of people wanting to congratulate Louis on the win, and inquiring about his arm. While he normally thrived on moments like this, in which it seemed like he was holding court with people swarming around him, he could feel his eyes starting to droop as he leaned into Harry’s firm embrace.

‘D’ya wanna stand up?’ Harry whispered into his ear, then hauled Louis up with him as soon as he’d nodded in affirmation.

He was just getting his bearings when Jesy barreled through and carefully jostled Louis out of Harry’s embrace right into her own, a massive grin painted on her face. ‘I’m so glad you’re alright, Lou. You did it! The Harpies’ scout’s here! He gave me his card!’

And while Louis was of course excited for his friend, he couldn’t help but feel his stomach drop.

So there really had been scouts. But they hadn’t even gone out of their way to talk to him.

Disappointed, he guessed that maybe he was too reckless. Or maybe he just wasn’t good enough.

 

Smiling at Jesy’s enthusiasm, he quietly reached out behind him to grab a hold of Harry’s hand, letting the skin-to-skin touch calm him as he listened to what the scout had told her.

 

“Excuse me? Can I have a minute?”

The light voice interrupted Jesy’s rant about the Harpies’ latest statistics, making Louis refocus on the person that had stepped into their space, his eyes widening as he recognized the long black hair of the man in front of him. 

“I’m not sure if you’re familiar with me, Louis, but my name’s Steve. I’m a scout for –” Harry gasped from behind Louis, interrupting Steve as he filled in the blank. ‘Puddlemere United!’

He smiled shortly, eyes flickering from their entwined hands back up to Louis’ face – followed by a sharp nod.

Louis could hear his own heart hammering away in his chest, as he swallowed once to get rid of the lump that was forming in his throat out of nerves.

“It’s really nice to meet you. You’re incredibly talented, you know? In your sixth year, I heard. Serious about Quidditch, but also committed to your schoolwork. That’s good. We look for perseverance and dedication,” Steve continued, eyes smiling kindly at the two of them.

Louis scrambled to say something intelligent, but couldn’t come up with anything more than just a word of thanks. ‘Wow, thank you. I’ve gotta be honest, I’m really honoured by you being here and taking out some time to talk to me. Puddlemere’s me favourite team.’

It wasn’t even a lie.

Harry’d seen the posters in his bedroom back at home, one of the very few magical items there.

Steve’s lips quirked upwards at that, then nodded in appreciation. “Good to hear, because I’m pretty sure there are a lot of teams just waiting for the right moment to swoop right in and poach you. So, I’m going to make you an offer right now. I’d like for you to temporarily join our Reserves Team over the summer. You’ll get the opportunity to train professionally, and really hone your skills, but still focus on your final year of school. Once you’ve finished your NEWTS, we’ll offer you a professional Puddlemere contract."

He paused there, eyes flickering to Harry, then back to Louis. "A career in Quidditch requires _a lot_. And it won’t last forever, so you have to fully commit to it to make the most out of your prime years. But Puddlemere would certainly be better off with you in their team.”

Dumbfounded at the praise he was receiving, Louis blanked.

He also knew that he wouldn’t be making any decisions off the bat, so rather than answering the unspoken question, he just smiled back.

‘Well, that’s a very… a very nice offer. I’ll err, I’ll _definitely_ take it into consideration,’ he breathed out, which was apparently the right thing to say as Steve smiled even brighter at that.

“Good. Here’s my contact info. You can always stop by our offices if you have any questions or decide to accept. Have a good one, and again, it was inspiring to see you out there,” Steve waved off, leaving Harry and Louis standing next to each other with perplexed and slightly star-dazed expressions on their faces.

‘I’m dating a professional Quidditch player,’ Harry suddenly blurted out, making Louis crack up in a bout of giggles.

Deciding to play it coy, he shrugged as he disentangled his hand from Harry’s to pick up his Thunderbolt that had been left deserted on the field. “I haven’t decided yet.”

Harry levelled him with an unimpressed look, then grabbed a hold of Louis’ Thunderbolt together with his own, before relinking their fingers.

‘Louis William Tomlinson. If you don’t take that offer, I’ll break up with you.’

He snorted, letting his thumb run small circles over the soft skin of Harry’s hand. He loved how different it felt compared to the calloused finger tops from gripping the broom handle all the time.

Hell, he loved everything about Harry. And he hadn’t failed to pick up on the connotation of Steve’s words.

“Would you be okay with me training at Puddlemere, then? While you do your fancy Auror course?”

Harry’s expression softened at Louis’ words, as he slung their conjoined hands over Louis’ shoulder, effectively enclosing him into a side embrace.

‘You shouldn’t base that decision off of me, babe. Also, I told you, I might just try out the songwriting thing first. Can do that from anywhere, really.’

Louis frowned, though. “Of course I want to make that decision with you. He said it’d be hard. And I need you to know that yes, I’m competitive as fuck and I might live and breathe for Quidditch, but it’s always going to be you. _Always you,_ ” he repeated.

He realized that maybe standing in the middle of a crowded pitch, with people celebrating and lifting the Quidditch Cup just meters away wasn’t the best location for an intimate conversation like this. But he didn’t really care. He just needed Harry to know.

‘And I’ll always find my way home to you, Lou,’ Harry replied earnestly, an impossibly soft smile present on his face, that Louis wanted to worship probably forever.

And with the ruby ring resting against his chest, Louis knew it to be true.

So maybe the ring hadn't protected him from a Bludger, he was pretty sure it'd protect his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it, be sure to leave a kudo or a comment !
> 
> You can also find me on Tumblr: @goodmorningtoyouuniverse


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